The Past's Revenge
by WhiteIce
Summary: Michael Yardly, a dangerous enemy from Myka's past, shows up bent on revenge. Now he is determined to make Myka pay by targeting the family Myka has built for herself, especially one member that has filled the void of her little sister: Claudia.
1. Prologue: Just a Few Years Ago

So, this is my first contribution to the Warehouse 13 section on this site. Reviews are love, and don't be afraid to tell me what you honestly think! I don't own Warehouse 13. Also, be warned, there are spoilers up to and including the episode "For the Team."

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**Prologue: Just a Few Years Ago...**

"C'mon, Myka, pick up!" Tracy Bering said, staring at her cell phone as though it was the reason her sister wasn't answering her calls.

"That's the fifth time you've called her since this afternoon. Give it a rest, Tracy." Her best friend, Erin, said with a playful shove to her shoulder. "You should be celebrating! It's not every day that a girl gets voted Prom Queen. This is a day you'll remember for the rest of your life." The two girls were sitting in their favorite restaurant: small, cozy and with the best Italian food in town. Erin had insisted on taking her friend out to eat in honor of her achievement.

"I know, but I get crowned Prom Queen tomorrow!" Tracy said, slapping her phone down on the table. Stupid high school with their tradition about waiting to the last moment to name the Prom Queen. Some crap about increasing the suspense. "Maybe she could make it in town for the coronation!" It had been so long since she had seen Myka, and she was dying to have an excuse to get her sister in town. It was hard enough getting her sister away from her job, much less getting her sister to come willingly to a place that held her father.

"Isn't she in some government training program?" Erin said, shoving an enormous amount of pasta into her mouth.

"She's training for the Secret Service." Tracy said. "She probably couldn't come but..." She let her voice trail off and she looked down at the cell phone sadly. Already she could see her sister's proud eyes and smile as she watched Tracy getting crowned...

"So call her in a few minutes!" Erin said. "Let's get desert!"

"I guess you're right." Tracy said reluctantly, picking up the menu. "What about-" But she was cut off when two men came through the restaurant door. Her breath locked in her chest and her eyes widened. These men had guns in their hands and black masks over their heads.

"Everybody get down on the floor!" The tallest said, shooting his gun up into the air. The other moved behind the register and began stuffing money into a sack.

Erin grabbed Tracy and the two hid under their booth. Tracy could feel Erin's warm breath on the back of her neck, coming in panicked spurts. She dug her nails into Erin's hand, hysteria shooting into her body.

"C'mon. Hurry up!" The tallest man was saying to his partner, who was shoving everything that looked valuable in the restaurant into his sack.

"Give me a minute. There's got to be something worth some money around here."

"We don't have time. The cops are going to be-" He was cut off by a police siren in the air. "Right then." He glanced around the restaurant. The only bit of his face Tracy could see were his eyes - a deep, dark navy blue. Those eyes made contact with hers and she felt like throwing up.

He strode across the restaurant to her table and reached down, pulling out Tracy by her hair. "We'll use her for a hostage." Tracy whimpered and squirmed in his grasp, and he gave her a rough shake. "Shut up and we'll try not to make this too unpleasant."

But Tracy couldn't help it. Panic had kicked in and she continued to squirm as he made his way to the front of the restaurant to meet the police cars that were sure to pull up any second now. As he stopped to kick the front door open with his foot, Tracy wrenched herself away.

"No!" The man tried to grab her but she ran away from him, ran so fast that she could see the back doors of the kitchen - she could make it to freedom from there...

Suddenly a large crack echoed throughout the restaurant and Tracy almost didn't register it; but a second later she felt liquid seeping through her shirt, and had only a glimpse of the man with the sack holding his gun that was now aimed at her chest before she fell to the ground, eyes closing one final time.

"TRACY!" Erin screamed from her hiding spot.

"What did you do that for?" The tallest man asked his companion. "You moron!" He began to shove him. "Out the back doors! Go! Go!"

As Tracy Bering, Prom Queen and murder victim, lay on the floor with blood pooling around her, her cell phone began to ring. The screen read: MYKA BERING CALLING.


	2. Chapter 1: The One

_**I don't own Warehouse 13 and there is a quote in this chapter that is owned by John Galsworthy. **_

_**To all my kind readers and reviewers, thank you! I thought that since you were kind enough to review, I should at least answer!**_

_**NEIWIS** - Yes, this story is sad and cruel, in the best way, if there can be a good way... *scratches head, confused* Anyways, I'm glad you love it!_

_**Yoto-Ziva-Blye** - I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

_**zombienath** - Sorry that you were disapponted with just a prologue. ;) Here's Chapter 1! An actual chapter, rejoice!_

_**SunKrux** - I knew it! You're stalking me! But hey, if that means leaving me love for my stories, I'm happy!_

_**Ninja Bagal** - On top of having an awesome username, your review made me blush! I'm glad you think it resmbles an episode on TV, becaue that's what I'm aiming for. Although this might be a little too dark for a normal episode._

_**moonlit notebook** - Your wait is over! I give you Chapter 1!_

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**Chapter 1: The One**

"Must...listen...to...decent...quality...music." Claudia moaned, slouching as dramatically as she could in Myka's car.

"This is considered decent quality."

"Beethoven's awesome, Myka, really, but not for five hours straight."

"I put up with your music on the way here, now we put up with my music on the way back."

"Why couldn't Artie have gotten us plane tickets?"

"Because he's very, very cheap. And the artifact wasn't a major disturbance."

"Um..." Claudia said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, it wasn't until we tried to neutralize it."

"And then the pigs grew fangs."

"Do we have to talk about this?"

"Hear you loud and clear. I don't need any reminder of the evil little animals that are going to keep me up for the next couple of days." Myka smirked as Claudia shuddered.

"If you're going to be a warehouse agent, then you'll have to get used to things like that."

"Hey, I've built up an immunity to weird things. Won't get a chance to use it, though." Claudia said, suddenly depressed. "Not with Pete well enough to come back."

"Cheer up." Myka said. "He does plenty of stupid stuff. He'll get hurt soon enough and then you can come back on the road with me."

"You're right." Claudia said, perking up a little. In the back of her mind, she wondered how much trouble she would get if she switched Pete's pillow with the "Sleeping Beauty" pillow. He wouldn't be hurt, he'd just sleep for a few days...weeks...months... Maybe it was a bad idea after all.

"Hey Claud?" Myka said, snapping Claudia out of her sabotaging Pete thoughts. "Do you mind if we make a slight pit stop?" Claudia noticed her voice was different than it had been a few minutes before. It was more tense and nervous.

"Sure. What for?" Claudia said, glancing around. She didn't see anything that would strike Myka's attention. To either side was just forest ground, with huge pine trees on either side.

"I have to make a visit to a family member."

"Your parents? Don't they live a few hours back?" Claudia asked, curious.

"No. This is to my sister." Myka said in a sharp, quiet tone that made Claudia shallow the fifty questions that were itching to get out. She remained quiet for ten minutes (which she was pretty sure was a record), until she and Myka pulled into a cemetery.

"I'm guessing she's not a groundskeeper here?" Claudia said softly, hoping that she was wrong.

"No." Myka said. "She isn't."

Together they got out of the car, walking quietly through the empty graveyard, until they reached a headstond. Together, they knelt down in front of the headstone.

TRACY JULIET BERING

OCTOBER 15, 1987 - JUNE 4, 2005

BELOVED SISTER, DAUGHTER, AND FRIEND

"LOVE HAS NO AGE, NO LIMIT; AND NO DEATH."

"Oh Myka." Claudia said. "I'm so sorry." There wasn't anything else to say. Claudia looked at the tombstone with a sick feeling in her stomach. She hadn't gone to see her parents in years, due to being shuffled around in foster homes for most of her life. But she still remembered being a little girl, hugging her stuffed teddy bear that Joshua had bought her for her birthday, walking through a damp graveyard with him to see the two tombstones that belonged to her parents. She understood how hard it was to look at a lump of rock that had replaced a person you loved.

"She was elected prom queen for her high school." Myka said in a constricted tone, out of the blue. "She had just found out and she was trying to call to tell me. She was in a restaurant when these...men just came in and start robbing the place. They used her as a hostage, and when she tried to fight back, they shot her. She didn't even get to have the damn crown put on her head."

"I know how it feels." Claudia said, putting a hand on Myka's shoulder. "Before I started seeing Joshua, I thought he was dead, for...so many years. The first time I saw him, I thought I was dead. And I was happy because I could be with him again."

Myka looked up at her, her eyes shining with tears she refused to let fall. "You wanted to die?"

"I didn't have the warehouse yet. Didn't have you or Artie or Pete or anything really. Nobody understood me like you guys do. I thought I was going to live the rest of my life as an outcast. And then I found out about Joshua and I had a purpose again. And when that was finished, you guys gave me another one. You let me stay with you."

"Well, we didn't know how accident prone you were yet." Myka said, trying to smile, giving her a watery laugh. Claudia chuckled, then stopped as something occurred to her. She wasn't sure if it was her business to ask, but she couldn't help it.

"What happened to the men that robbed the store?" She asked.

"I caught them." Myka said. "I was in training for the Secret Service at the time, and I wanted to help. And when I want something..." She trailed off, giving Claudia another watery laugh. "Even though I was only in training, the police let me in on the investigation. I wasn't allowed to help look for the suspects, but I was allowed to look at the evidence. I was really lucky. I watched all the of the videos of her being shot -" She swallowed, like she was going to be sick. "Over and over again, looking for any details that might identify them. Finally, I found something. One of the men, the man that murdered my sister, had a tattoo on his wrist. When they picked up two men that were attempting to knock over a liquor store a couple of weeks later, we were able to identify one of the men as the one who shot my sister."

"I'm sure she's proud of you." Claudia said.

"Claudia, she's gone. She doesn't know anything anymore."

"Myka, we work in the warehouse. You're honestly telling me that after everything you've seen, you don't believe in the slightest possibility of an afterlife?" At that, Myka gave her a small smile.

"You're right."

"Usually am." Claudia said.

"Claud, do you mind - Can I have a few minutes alone with her?"

"Sure." Claudia nodded and began to walk away. "Just come find me when you're ready to go.

"And Claudia? Thanks." Myka smiled at her, larger this time. Claudia smiled back and began to wander down one of the paths in the graveyard.

* * *

He was astonished. Lady Luck had never really been on his side. He had never won any huge bets or poker games, and the fact that he had been stuck in prison had solidified that fact that luck wasn't meant for him.

Until today.

Then again maybe this wasn't luck, it was fate. To come across her visiting her sister's grave on today for all days. He had been watching it for a week, hoping that she would visit it on her way back from whatever she was doing, but he had given up hope and had decided to leave today.

He had just stopped in to see the little brat's grave, the one who had helped take his brother away from him. And there before him was the woman who had put him away. He wanted so badly to pull his gun out and put one little bullet hole between her head...

He bunched his hands into fists, trying to stop their trembling. This wouldn't do. He needed more time, a better plan. He wanted her to be in maximum pain. One bullet hole would end things with no pain, no suffering on her part. She would be there and gone in just a second. Her death needed to be longer, more drawn out. He wanted her to beg for death, to taunt her with almost killing her, and then changing his mind, leaving her without relief, in agony. And then, only when she had given up all hope of him ending it for her, he would kill her.

Satisfied for at least a while, he turned his thoughts away from Myka Bering and on to the little red head that had come to the graveyard with her. She didn't look like much, but maybe she could be the key to what he needed. He saw the way that Bering had talked to her, confided in her. The way that Myka looked at her, with affection in her eyes. He knew that the red head must have held a strong spot in Bering's heart if she had let her near her sister's grave, and to actually confide in her sister's death. From what he had observed of Bering, she didn't let people in easily.

Yes, he could target Baring's partner, whom she was fond of, he knew. But the man was strong and worked for the Secret Service with her. There was a much higher chance of him fighting back, and a small chance of him panicking at all. Plus there was his mouth. The man simply never shut up.

Then there was the African American woman, the one who seemed constantly distracted with things beyond what was around her. She would be easier to take, with her dreamy nature. But she...not scared him, but unnerved him. There was something in her look, her stance, that said she wasn't quite normal. And he needed to know what he was going to be dealing with if this was going to work out the way he planned. And he very, very much so wanted it to work out the way he planned.

Then there was the older man with the grayish hair. While maybe not as strong an opponent physically, there was a confidence about him. He had been a Secret Service agent for ages, had probably been through every considerable situation; he wouldn't panic and bulk like he needed him to for this to work.

That left the little red head. Not as strong as Bering's partner, not as experienced as the older man, not as otherworldly as the African American woman.

She was the perfect target. Yes, she was mildly strong and would put up a fight, but that would just give him much more pleasure in breaking her. And besides, she wasn't that much different from Tracy Bering, was she? Young, strong, attached to Myka, so desperately wanting to please her...

Yes, she was the one.


	3. Chapter 2: Intruder

**Chapter 2: Intruder**

**I don't own Warehouse 13, but I can dream...**

**NEIWIS - **_Pigs are evil! Don't tell me you didn't know that before you read this story? I'm glad that you think I'm writing well! Thanks for the wonderful review!_

**Yoto-Ziva-Blye - **_Yeah, Claudia's going to get the worst end of things for a while. I'm happy that you liked the chapter._

**Ninja Bagel - **_You're probably going to be hearing a lot more "Dun, dun, dun" for this story! I'm glad you liked the review reply!_

**OTHangles - **_Another chapter is up! Your torturous wait is over! ;)_

**Scout2006 - **_I'm happy you like this story, and to answer your question: Nobody really knows what the heck is up with Myka's sister. In Season One, they had Myka seem like an only child, and only just mentioned Tracy in Season Two. But they haven't mentioned if she's alive or dead yet._

**Akaylah - **_Nice day to you too! Here's another chapter! Hope you enjoy it!_

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"Ready to go?" Pete asked, picking up his suitcase. It had been weeks since he had been allowed out on a mission, and was itching to get back to work.

"Just a minute." Myka said, smiling at her partner's insistence. She was sure that his enthusiasm would wear off in a few hours, but she wasn't about to rock the boat now. "I have to talk to Claudia."

"Fine." Pete said, plopping his suitcase down and lying on the couch. "I might as well take a nap, since I'm driving first."

"To the airport."

"It's still pretty far."

"It's twenty minutes away."

"Like I said, far."

"Pete, I just want to talk for a minute."

"Yes, but you're running on girl time. A minute for you means two hours for me."

Myka just rolled her eyes and headed up the B&B stairs to Claudia's room. She knocked on the door.

"Come in." Claudia answered. She was in her room trying to replicate Fargo's MARA from the warehouse, trying to take her mind off the fact that Pete was reinitiated as a warehouse agent. With her luck, she wouldn't be able to go on another mission until she graduated from college years later.

"How are you doing?" Myka asked, knowing that post-mission depression had gotten to her.

"Pretty good, considering the fact that I'm being replaced by a man that can stuff 15 croissants into his mouth." Claudia said as Myka chuckled.

"You'll be out again in no time. Listen, I actually came in to thank you."

"For what?" Claudia asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

"For listening to me at the graveyard. I - I needed to get some stuff off my chest, and you were there."

"Am I the only one who knows what happened to Tracy?" Claudia asked, slightly astonished.

"Pete knows that she died in a robbery, and I'm sure that Artie has the story through the files he's read on us at the warehouse. But you're the only one that's heard the whole story - from me, at least."

"Wow."

"Yeah. So, thanks." Myka said, starting to back out the door.

"It's okay. Hey -" She said as Myka started to walk away. "If you ever want to talk about it some more - I'll listen. I mean, I know what's like. To lose people you love." Claudia said, trying hard to not let her face go red. Why did she have to be so bad at this emotional stuff?

"Thanks Claud." Myka said, right before Claudia gave her another lightening fast hug and then threw herself down on her bed, picking up the gizmo again.

"No problem." She said, giving Myka a grin, which was promptly wiped off of her face when the gizmo electrocuted her. "Ow!"

Chuckling, Myka made her way downstairs to where Pete had a pillow over his face, trying to fall asleep. "I'm finished, and it wasn't two hours."

"But it was more than a minute." Pete stuck a finger up into the air, like a lawyer trying to empathize a point. "Girl time!"

"C'mon. I hope you got a lot of sleep, because it's going to be a long mission. I can have a vibe." Myka teased.

"Vibe? You don't get vibes, I get vibes. I'm the vibe person, you're the snippy, woman with a mission person."

Myka picked up a pillow and hit Pete on the face with it, laughing. She didn't notice a man watching her through binoculars as she made her way out of the B&B, with Pete in tow.

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"Okay, little guy." Claudia said, putting down her gizmo. "Work!" She held her hands out, like she was trying to make electricity flow to the tiny bug in front of her. "Fine." She pouted, getting up from her bed. Stretching, she decided to go down to the kitchen to see if Pete had left any of the cake that Leena had made yesterday. He'd probably demolished it all in one sitting - Claudia had learned long ago not to leave Pete alone with sugar of any kind.

As she had reached the living room of Leena's, a knock came from the door. She opened it, and saw a tall, young man with blond hair. Despite the fact that his clothes and face were caked with dirt, she had to admit he was very good looking. His blond hair reached down to his chin, almost as long as Claudia's, and his eyes were a deep, dark navy blue. He was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt, which showed off his well muscled arms. His hands were covered by gloves, the thick type that Claudia used at the warehouse to take care of electrical emergencies.

"I'm sorry to intrude on you like this, Miss. My name is Michael and I just moved here." He said, giving her a breathtaking smile, showing that the only thing not covered with dirt were his sparking white teeth. "I was hired to haul construction supplies to a site, but I got lost. You live here, do you think you could give me directions?"

"Sure." Claudia said, leaning against the doorframe. "Where do you want to go?"

"See, the thing is," he gave an embarrassed laugh, "I'm really new here, and I forgot the name of the place. I do have it marked on a map here, though." He reached in his back pocket, pulling out something that Claudia assumed was a map.

"No sweat dude. I just moved here a while b-" Claudia was cut off when he pressed a large cloth to her mouth and nose. The entire rag was damp with a sweet liquid.

"Chloroform." Her mind registered before the drug kicked in and she fell to the floor.

"Well, that was easy." Michael said, picking up the unconscious girl and hauling her out of the B&B. He stuffed her into the back of his car without much worry. She'd be out for hours with the amount of chloroform he put in that rag.

The first step had gone smoothly. Maybe fate really was with him. And why not? Myka Bering needed to be punished, and if the universe wanted to help him out a bit, he wasn't going to argue.

Whistling, he pulled out of the B&B with an unconscious Claudia and only one hidden person around to witness the event.


	4. Chapter 3: Waking Up

**Chapter 3: Waking Up**

**Warehouse 13 is not mind (although if someone wants to give it to me...)**

**NEIWIS - **_You should feel bad for Claudia, she's got it rough in the next few chapters. Although it's a toss-up to who suffers worse, Claudia or Myka. P.S. I have no clue what artifact made the pigs grow fangs (I want to say something of Bela Lugosi's). _

**OTHangles - **_What a coincidence! I love Myka and Claudia too! ;)_

**Ninja Bagal - **_Hopefully this chapter lives up to another "Dun dun dun!"_

**SunKrux - **_You are the most awesome stalker ever. ;)_

**Scout2006 - **_I'm a cliffhanger addict. It's my (and my readers') burden to bear. :)_

**Akaylah -** _I'll keep the chapters coming if people keep reviewing!_

**mystery-3675 -** _The suspense has started and won't be ending for a while!_

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It was a beautiful, gorgeous day in Ohio. The air was crisp and clear, the sun sparkling off the water so brightly that you almost believed that it could have blinded you. It was a day that made someone just want to take a walk and enjoy life. Which of course meant that Myka and Pete were chasing a suspect through the streets of Cleveland, totally immune to the beauty of the day. They stopped running for a second to catch their breath.

"How many freaking artifacts did Dante have?" Pete asked, huffing.

"Too many." Myka answered, her hands on her knees, her chest heaving.

But their break was cut short when they saw their prep running even farther away, a small golden locket clutched in his hand.

"Argh." Myka groaned. She looked to Pete, who was sporting a sprained ankle. "I got it." She dashed off after the man, Tesla at the ready.

She turned into a deserted alley that only had one door, which was swung wide open. Cautiously, Myka walked in. It lead to an empty factory, with nothing around but cinderblock pillars holding it up. Suddenly a loud creaking noise made her turn around just as a ball of fire flew past her, singeing her hair. It flew into one of the pillars behind her and it exploded, sending bits of stone everywhere. Myka would have turned right into another ball of fire that was aimed for her when she caught a flash of black hair and was pinned to the floor, beneath somebody who grabbed her Tesla and shot it off at the suspect. Immediately the fireballs stopped.

"Thanks Pete." Myka groaned. "I didn't know you could run so fast with a sprained ankle."

"Am I really that bad looking?" Came the voice of H.G. Wells above her. "I mean, I know I haven't had time to catch up on the styles of the 21st century..." She teased cheerfully.

"H.G.? What are you doing here?" Myka asked as H.G. rolled off of her.

"I just saved your life. I would think the first words out of your mouth would be 'Thank you.'"

Myka got to her feet to see her suspect unconscious on the ground and H.G. picking the locket out of his hand. "Beatrice Portinari's locket, I see. Dante's true love. I believe the tale goes that he pick-pocketed this locket from her, as something to remember her by. He wrote some of his most famous works while writing this. Said it was his muse."

"Yes. Thanks." Myka said, walking forward with her hand held out for the locket.

"Uh-uh." Wells shook her head, slipping the locket into her pocket. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to keep this one, my dear."

"What?" Myka asked. "I thought you wanted to help the Warehouse."

"I do and I am. In a way." Wells said, speaking maddeningly slow, like she was talking to a child.

"Listen, part of the warehouse is making sure all valuable artifacts get back to it." Myka said, moving towards her Tesla that had been abandoned on the ground by H.G.

"I do know that." Wells said. "But trust me, I have to take this for a ride first."

"Wells wait! We don't even know what powers that locket holds. I mean, it's Dante's locket!" But Myka's comments fell on deaf ears as H.G. raised the locket and it began to glow. "H.G. please! I don't want to take you back to the Warehouse as a prisoner!" But Myka had no choice as H.G. raised the locket. She dove for her Tesla, but the locket emitted a huge BOOM and H.G. vanished in a puff of smoke and fire.

"Ugh." Myka said, letting her head fall to the ground in exhaustion and disappointment.

* * *

"Myka! Ouch." Pete said, looking for his partner. "Myka! Ouch." He looked down at his sprained ankle, and then up at the sky, as though he could find some deity to blame his bad misfortune on. "My first mission back? Why?" He got nothing in response except for a wet 'plop' as a pigeon decided to empty its breakfast on him.

Pete was distracted from cursing out the bird when the Farnsworth rang. He answered it to a frantic Artie. "What's up? You're even more spazzy than usual."

"It's Claudia. When Leena and I got back from the Warehouse we found dirt on the door and everything looked fine but the dirt wasn't there before and when we tried to find Claudia to make her explain -"

"Woah. Artie. Deep breaths. Now tell me in sentences."

"Claudia's been kidnapped, Pete."

"What, are you sure?" Pete said, a cold, icy wave of panic crashing down on him.

"Positive. We used the Durational Spectrometer. She was drugged and then carried out of the B&B."

"Bad this is - This is bad." Pete said, struggling not to let his horror get the best of him. Claudia was strong, tough. She was a survivor. She'd be fine, and then they'd capture this bastard and she'd be safe again... He was concentrating on taking deep breaths when he heard footsteps running up behind him.

"Pete!" Myka called out. "I ran into H.G. Wells and she - What?" She asked, looking from Pete to the Farnsworth. "What's going on?"

* * *

Claudia woke up to blackness. She couldn't see anything. She couldn't even see her hand in front of her face, if she could move her hands. Which she couldn't because they were tied behind her back.

Everything was tied tightly. She tested the bonds on her hands and found them to be almost painfully tight. Carefully, she tested her limbs to see what had been tied up. Her ankles, wrists and lower and upper legs and arms had all been tied with strong rope. To top it all off, she had been blindfolded and gagged.

'Well, this is a great way to wake up,' she thought. Suddenly she heard approaching boots on the floor above her. She listened intently as the boots came to the door of...wherever the hell she was, and the door opened creakily. She heard a light-switch being flipped on, even though she still couldn't see anything, and heard the boots coming down steps.

"Finally, you're awake." She heard Michael's voice and felt her blood boil with fury at him and herself. Honestly, how stupid could she be? Opening the door to a complete stranger. But why was that her fault? Doors were made to be opened! And with it being Leena's B&B, strangers were bound to come through. It could have been a Regent! She was alternating between blaming herself and Michael when she felt her blindfold being untied. Well, at least she could see where she was now.

She glanced around her meager surroundings. She was in a damp, cold basement, where the only light came from a single bulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling, leaving plenty of shadows in the corners of the room. The floor and walls were made of pure concrete, while the roof was made up of a maze of wires and pipes. There were no windows anywhere. A few dark black pipes were scattered around the basement, to hold the ceiling up. She was interrupted from her observations by Michael's voice.

"I'm going to take this gag out. Now, you can yell and scream as much as you want. But it would make me very angry," he said, pushing his hand against her throat, "and I don't like to be made angry. Plus, no one will hear you. You're in the middle of nowhere. Okay?" Claudia nodded, hoping that he could see the hate in her eyes. The minute the gag was out, Claudia spoke.

"I hope you know just how bad of a move you made. I'm with the Secret Service. That house you kidnapped me from? That holds three Secret Service agents and one woman who can swing a mean frying pan. Trust me, I've watched her do it." Just a few weeks back, when Pete had accidentally infected their house with man eating rabbits. Turns out, the Easter bunny had a mean streak and Leena had a sweet right hook.

"I know exactly who I've kidnapped you from. I must say, for Secret Service agents, you're not too good at knowing when you're being followed."

"Doesn't matter because we always find out who's doing it eventually and kick their ass." Claudia said, struggling with her bonds. Michael chuckled.

"Don't bother. Trust me, I've tied enough knots in my time to know you're never getting out of those by yourself."

"You underestimate me." Claudia said, raising her chin up a notch.

"No Claudia," Michael replied softly, and even though she knew he had heard her name from following her, it was still a shock, "you and Myka Bering underestimated me."


	5. Chapter 4: Shock

**Chapter 4: Shock**

**I don't own Warehouse 13. This serves as the disclaimer for this chapter and any other chapters beyond that, because I'm sick of stating this.**

**NEIWIS - **_Good point on Michael's final line. My reasoingin here is that: A) Claudia's in the room, so he's going to try and intimate her by mentioning her as well as Myka - Michael wants them to see him as a threat, B) In case you haven't noticed, Michael's not exactly in his right mind, so it's natural that he'd make a verbal mistake. Thanks for catching it, though! Pointing out certain parts of my writing challenges me to write even better._

**mystery-3675 -** _I'm glad you like suspense, because you'll be getting it a lot in the next few chapters._

**OTHangels -**_ I wrote Artie in character? Yay! I'm so glad considering the fact that he's my second favorite character (behind Claudia)._

**Ninja Bagel -** _I'm so evil, leaving you will all these cliff hangers. *diabolgical laughter*_

**flawless victory - **_Here's your update! Hope you find it to your liking!_

**SunKrux -** _What was I waiting for? Why, your stalkerish review! ;)_

**Akaylah - **_You guess right! Look at the chapter below you for whump and even more cliffhangers!_

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"What the hell does this have to do with Myka?" Claudia asked, pulling even more furiously at her bonds. "Stay the hell away from her!"

"Protective. Nice, nice." Michael said, as though a dog had just done a difficult trick. "That'll work well. I just hope she reciprocates..."

"Listen dude, I don't know what your problem is and I don't care, but if you go after Myka you'll be dead meat." Claudia snarled.

"Really? You're going to kill me?" He looked down at Claudia, trussed up like a turkey.

"If I don't, then there'll be four other people waiting to. Including a woman who I'm pretty sure can teleport and kill you just by glaring at you."

"They won't get the chance to kill me. Not with such a pretty hostage." He said, stroking her hair. Claudia moved her head away from him so fast she nearly got whiplash.

"Stay. Away. From. Me." She said through her clenched teeth.

"Fine." He said, shrugging. He picked up her gag again.

"N - mph mff mph!" Claudia said, trying her hardest to scream swear words through the gag. She thrashed her head but a minute later, the blindfold was tightly around her head again.

"I'm going to go see if Bering is back from her trip yet. You sit tight and wait for me." He chuckled, patting her on the head, causing another stream of muffled swear words to explode.

Sitting in the darkness, cold, alone and, even though she didn't want to admit it, scared, Claudia hoped that whatever Myka was doing and wherever she was, she was safe.

* * *

"How could this happen?" Myka said, trying her hardest to remain in control. She was pacing the floor of the B&B while Pete was sitting on the couch, his hands folded against his head.

"I don't know." He said.

"I mean - Is this someone from Claudia's past? Did she- did she steal from someone or - I -I don't know! I mean, nothing huge showed up when we ran her through the Warehouse computer's when she kidnapped Artie!" Myka said.

She and Pete were waiting for Artie to get back from the warehouse. They had wanted to go join him, but Artie had insisted they stay with at the B&B, because he was almost finished up. He had just matched the image of the man who had taken Claudia to a name and face, and was gathering the information now. Truthfully, Myka thought he wanted them to stay at the B&B because he needed a moment to himself to calm down. He was beyond panicked at Claudia's abduction. Myka knew that Claudia and Artie had a close bond, and if anything happened to her Artie would be devastated.

"Here. Maybe this will help." Leena said, placing a pile of cookies down on the coffee table. Mechanically, Pete took one and eat it. He looked a bit better after biting into it, so Myka reluctantly took a cookie, too. It was warm and soft and delicious, and it reminded Myka that she hadn't eaten in hours. She took two more for herself. The cookies didn't make everything better, but they helped calm her slightly. But the calm went away when she saw Leena twisting her hands anxiously, looking around the B&B. Suddenly, an idea came to her.

"Leena?" She asked, making the woman jump. "Sorry. I was just wondering if... Do auras leave a presence? You know, do they stay even after a person has left?"

"Some traces of the aura do." Leena said. "It's a good idea Myka, and I've already checked. The aura that came through here is very, very malevolent. It's full of nothing but hatred and anger." At this Myka felt the last bit of warmth that she had gotten from the cookies disappear. Claudia was in the hands of a person without a bit of human sympathy or kindness.

A sudden bang coming from the front door signified that Artie had arrived. He looked even more frantic than usual, his eyes wide and wild behind croaked glasses. "All right." He said, handing out separate files for Pete and Myka. "This is our kidnapper. His name is Michael Yardly, 6'2, about 220 pounds, a criminal past as long as my arm..." Artie's voice faded away as Myka stared down at Michael's picture. Every other thought in her head faded away.

Michael. His brother had killed Tracy. Tracy... Claudia. Claudia was taken because of her, because of her family... Everything seemed to be moving slowly. Myka took a deep breath, but maybe it was too loud because Artie broke off from his talking to look at her. She tried to take another breath but it felt like her lungs weren't working. She could feel them moving but she didn't feel the air coming into her body. Her face, her entire body, suddenly felt flushed. She tried to stand up, but her legs immediately collapsed out from under her. She heard Pete's voice calling her name as she hit the floor and everything went black.

* * *

"Well, she's back, and she's panicked." Claudia turned her head in the direction that Michael's voice was coming from. "Everyone's all worried about you, isn't that sweet?" Michael ripped the blindfold and gag from Claudia's head, staring sardonically down at her. He knelt down so they were eye to eye. Claudia sucked in a breath - and then lobbed a huge wad of spit at him. He flew back, clutching his eye and cursing.

"Go to hell you little b-" But then he took a deep breath and smiled sweetly. This unnerved Claudia even more. "Go ahead. Play your game. But I'll just make you suffer even worse when Bering gets here."

"You actually want Myka to come find me? Do you have a death wish?" Claudia asked skeptically.

"No. But I think I can handle her." Michael said smugly. "After all, if she wants you to have all your internal organs -" he said with absolute seriousness, making Claudia try, and fail, to repress a shudder, "then she'll be a good girl."

Claudia snorted, trying to keep a brave face. "You'll find out real quick that we're not good girls."

Michael took a deep breath to calm himself. "I can't wait until Bering gets here and I can smack that look off of your face."

Claudia gathered up the last of her courage for one final retort. "Same here, bud."

"Listen you little brat!" Suddenly his hand was up against her throat, and Claudia couldn't breathe. His face was inches from hers, and she could feel his hot, disgusting breath on her face. His voice was feral and hard. "You are going to shut your mouth and not speak another word until Bering gets here. And then? You talk all you want, because I can play with you as much as I want." Claudia didn't have the will to respond anymore. She tried to make his hand let go of her throat - she was light headed and close to fainting. But no matter what she did, she couldn't fight against him. She was bound carefully and was helpless against him, the worst feeling in the world. She was beyond terrified. Too much had happened in too little time, and she couldn't fight it anymore. She quickly nodded a 'yes' to Michael and gasped as he released her throat.

"Good girl." He said, the smug look back again. He wrapped the gag and blindfold around Claudia's head again, not noticing the tear that slipped away from her eye and was absorbed by the blindfold.

* * *

_No no no no no...Claudia...Tracy...Michael...all my fault..._

Myka's dreams were black and disoriented. Images of Claudia and Tracy melded together, both murdered by Michael with a satanical smile of his face. She twisted and turned and tried to make the dreams let go of her, but they clung on. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she opened her eyes. She found herself lying on the B&B couch. "What?" She said, confused.

"Myka, you're awake!" Kelly rushed forward and leaned down, checking her pulse and feeling her forehead. "Well, your pulse is almost back to normal. And that's a good thing, a half hour ago it was so out of control I thought we might have to take you out to the hospital."

"I don't..." Everything seemed out of place to a disoriented Myka. She just wanted to curl up in a ball and let the world fall back into order. She glanced around to find Artie and Pete gone, and Leena sitting in a chair beside the coach. Kelly was standing next to an end table, rifling through what looked like a medical bag. But Myka was distracted by her observations when she heard Leena's voice.

"Myka..." Leena said softly, taking her hand. "Do you remember why you passed out?"

"Claudia." Myka said softly, and then abruptly tried to stand up. What was she doing here moping when Claudia was in danger? She needed to help! Unfortunately, her legs didn't feel the same way, giving out almost immediately.

"Gotcha!" Kelly said, laying her back down on the couch. "Don't worry Myka, you'll be fine. You just suffered a huge shock."

"Why are you here?" Myka said, only realizing how offensive the words sounded after they were out of her mouth. "Sorry..."

"Don't worry..." Kelly said, shaking her head. "Pete called me here to help you...The town doctor is still away..." She looked down, a sad look gracing her features. "I heard that Claudia was taken... I am so sorry." She said, looking at Myka with immense worry in her eyes. "I -" She was interrupted by Myka's cell phone.

"I'm sorry, I've got to take this. It could be Artie or Pete." But even as Myka said it, it stuck her as strange. Why wouldn't Pete or Artie call on the Farnsworth? Maybe because Kelly was there? Shrugging, she sat up on the couch and looked to Kelly, who nodded as she and Leena moved to the kitchen.

"Hello?" She said curiously.

"Hello Myka, this is Michael Yardly. For Claudia's sake, I truly hope you remember who I am."


	6. Chapter 5: Bait and Switch

**Chapter 5: Bait and Switch**

**NEIWIS - Claudia's my favorite character, too! Does Michael hear voices in his head? You'll have to wait and see. ;)**

**Scout2006 - I love tormenting my readers. *evil laughter***

**Ninja Bagel - Even though you think it's too genius for words, I'm glad you still wrote a review! ;)**

**OTHangles - Can't promise that Claudia won't be hurt...you'll just have to be satisfied with an update!**

**orangeninja - I've never thought of Michael having a British accent, but it's a cool thought! (BTW, why are all of the show's villains British?)**

**SunKrux - Can't give away any of the story, not even to my stalker!**

**mystery-3675 - You'll just have to wait to see what happens to Michael! ;)**

**six33 - An upset Mrs. F is not a happy thought. But you know what is a happy thought? An updated chapter! Here you go...**

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"Where is Claudia?" Myka asked, her teeth clenched. She moved away, exiting the B&B so Leena and Kelly couldn't hear her. "What have you done with her?"

"Relax, she's fine. Besides some rope-burn and maybe a few bruises on her throat..." Myka felt her breath catch in her throat.

"Let me talk to her."

"I don't think so."

"How am I supposed to know she's really with you? That you didn't just...leave her in a ditch somewhere." Myka said, trying to control the tremble in her voice.

"Hmm..." She held her breath as the voice over the phone considered her demand. "Fine."

There was the sound of footsteps and a door opening, then Michael's voice over the speaker, talking to Claudia, "Myka wants to hear your voice. So that's what we're going to give her." Then, suddenly, there was the sound of flesh hitting flesh and a scream from that was unmistakably Claudia's. Adrenaline and fury and fear all shot through Myka, making her stagger and almost fall to the ground again.

"There, you heard her voice."

"You bastard!" Myka screamed, getting ready to launch into numerous death threats when a familiar voice came through the phone speaker.

"Myka stay away! He's going to -" Claudia was suddenly cut off with another loud smack.

"Claudia? Claud!" Myka yelled.

"Women should be seen and not heard." Michael's voice said gleefully.

"Where is she? You tell me where she is right now!" Myka demanded, her breath in her throat. She tried to analyze how Claudia had sounded during her warning. Had there been pain in her voice? Fear? Myka couldn't remember. The world around her seemed to blur as numerous emotions crashed into her.

"Why don't you come meet us?" Michael asked, sounding smug and happy. Myka wanted to rip him apart. "Although if you bring any friends, I may be forced to harm poor Claudia here again."

"Where?"

As Michael was giving her instructions, Myka was walking out to her car, desperately trying to think of anyway to tell Pete or Artie where she was going. But no matter what plan she came up with, she knew she couldn't. She wasn't willing to bet Claudia's life on the fact that Michael might be lying.

* * *

"Well, she's coming." Michael said, flipping his cell phone shut and looking down at the horror struck Claudia. She was gagged again, but not blindfolded. He rather enjoyed seeing the fear in her eyes. Almost as much as he enjoyed the magnificent purple bruise that was blooming across her cheek. Beautiful. Michael smirked. And that was him holding back.

"Do you know who I am, Claudia?" He asked, staring down at the red head. She shook her head, staring at him with a mixture of fury and fear. Sighing happily, he knelt down next to her, stroking her hair. She tried to scoot back against the wall and away from him, but already her back was pressed against the wall.

"I know Myka has told you the tale of Tracy Bering. How the poor little thing..." He said, working sarcasm into his tone, "was a hostage in a robbery attempt. How the innocent little girl ran away and was shot." At this, Michael's voice began to get louder and harder. "If she had just listened to instructions... if she had just listened to _me_, then maybe we all wouldn't be here today." He took in Claudia's eyes widening as what he was saying registered. "But she stupidly panicked, and now I'm here with you, and my brother is in jail for the murder of that stupid little bitch. Was in jail, anyway." He corrected himself, a dark veil working its way over his eyes.

Claudia didn't say anything, hoping that if she remained quiet that he wouldn't vent his anger on her. But she couldn't suppress a squirm in her bonds when she heard Myka's name mentioned.

"Myka Bering... She always blamed my brother for her sister's murder. It was all his fault in her mind. She didn't see the fact that if her sister had used what little brain she possessed, she would still be alive. She didn't think about the fact that my brother was just 18, and all we wanted was money for something to eat. No, she only saw what she wanted to see.

"So I'm wondering..." He said, gripping the back of Claudia's neck and pulling it so that Claudia's eyes met his, "if she'll finally come around to my way of thinking, of how it feels to have a sibling taken away from you, when she watches you die."

* * *

As she was driving to meet Michael, Myka couldn't help but recall Claudia's words about Tracy residing in an afterlife. 'If you can hear me, Tracy, please help me. I can't lose you and Claudia.' She thought.

She pulled up the house that Michael had mentioned, getting out her gun. The house looked abandoned, in the middle of nowhere, with no witnesses at all... Pushing aside her fear, Myka tested the front door. It was unlocked and swung open easily. This wasn't good. It meant Michael was ready for her, prepared for her.

She checked all the rooms of the house, which didn't take very long: there was only a bathroom, with a cracked mirror and dirt stains in the sink; a bedroom with rumpled sheets and messy clothes strewn around and kitchen with an overflowing sink and trash can; every room was completely filthy. Guess you didn't pay much attention to cleanliness when you were a psychopathic kidnapping criminal.

Finally, there was only one door left in the house. It was tucked away in a corner of the kitchen. Gently, Myka opened it and saw that it lead to the basement. Hesitantly, she went down the flight of old wooden stairs that led to a damp, dirt covered basement that was completely empty of anything except for a small red head that was shivering in the darkest corner of the room.

Claudia.

She rushed down the rest of the stairs to where Claudia was leaning against the wall, trying to look around for where the source of the noise had come from. Her neck was dotted with purple bruises that looked like they had come from fingers and her entire right cheek was a deep, dark purple. Trying to ignore her twisting stomach, Myka gently untied the blindfold to look into Claudia's terrified eyes.

"Claud? Claudia are you okay?" She asked while untying the gag.

"Myka, he's - His brother, his brother killed Tracy." Claudia said, still in a state of panic, despite Myka's presence. "He's insane. He wants to kill me." Her sentences were short and choppy, letting Myka know that the panic had fully caught up with her.

"I know. It's okay." Myka said, stroking her hair and struggling to maintain a soothing tone through her anger and fear. "It's going to be okay." It was the only thing she could say as she struggled with the bonds on Claudia's wrists, legs and arms and ankles before they finally loosened. Her wrists bore the distinctive red marks of rope-burn and Myka felt anger roar through her, ready to be unleashed. But first she had to get Claudia to safety.

"C'mon, Claud. Let's get out of here." Myka took off her jacket and wrapped it around the freezing girl. She helped Claudia, who was shaking from the cold and fear, stand. She could barely walk, her body was trembling so badly. It was one thing to be in the field and keep calm under death, knowing that you were dying for the good of someone else; it was a whole other game when you were told of your death hours before hand, and told you were dying for revenge and hatred.

The red head nodded, looking everywhere for Michael but not seeing him. Myka looked around too, but couldn't see anybody. She wondered what was going on. If they hadn't had the Durational Spectrometer, she might not have figured out it was Michael until he called her. There were no prints at the crime scene, and he had taken great trouble to cover his tracks. So why was he leaving doors open and was nowhere to be seen? Myka shook her head. She didn't have time to think about that right now. She'd chalk it up to overconfidence and think about it when Claudia was safe.

"It's okay." She said, leading Claudia to the staircase, struggling to keep her grip on the weak red head and her gun at the same time. "It's going to be okay."

She heard a click and felt the cool barrel of a gun at the back of her head. "I really don't think so," came the unmistakable voice of Michael Yardly.


	7. Chapter 6: Truth

**Chapter 6: Truth**

**Ninja Bagel - **_The Jaws theme song would suit Michael! Maybe we should make that his theme song. ;)_

**NEIWIS - **_I thought it would be fitting to make Michael both crazy and sexist. And yes, he'll pay for that comment. Or will he? (I can't give away the ending too soon!)_

**orangeninja - **_Good point - I'd like to see a French villain because I just love French accents! And yes, poor Claudia being abused. You might see more of that in the story, though. Emphasis on might. _

**mystery-3675 - **_Here's your update! All your questions have been answered! (Or not, because I'm evil that way.)_

**moonlit notebook - **_Here is another chapter for you and your baited breath! Enjoy!_

**Sheblet - **_Well, I wouldn't want you guys to die of suspense - who would review? _

**SunKrux - **_No, Michael isn't very smart at all, ticking Myka off. ;) _

**Akaylah -** _I love cliffhangers, they're my drug! And I don't want any rehab! Here's your update..._

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"Put the gun down. Now." Michael said, digging his gun's barrel into Myka's head. Myka sighed in frustration at herself for not being more aware, but didn't let go of her gun. After a few seconds, she felt the gun barrel slowly being moved away from her head. The next second, there was a cry of pain and fear from Claudia as she was ripped away from Myka and pulled into Michael's tight grip.

Myka moved instantaneously. The second she had felt Claudia moving away from her, she twisted around, holding her gun aloft so that it was pointing straight at Michael's head. Unfortunately, his gun was pointing straight at the head of Claudia. Myka glanced at the red head in Michael's arms. She looked like she was on the verge of a panic attack as Michael smirked and grabbed a fistful of her hair, pushing her head up so that he could slid his gun underneath her chin, the barrel pointed straight up.

"I'll tell you again. Drop your gun." He said, softly. Myka looked from the panicked Claudia to the calm Michael and lowered her gun. There was no doubt in her mind that Michael was insane and would shoot Claudia. There had to be another way to subdue Michael. If she didn't leave the basement with Claudia, she wasn't sure she wanted to leave at all.

* * *

"I'll put my gun down if you give me Claudia." Michael smirked as Bering slowly lowered her gun. How could she be so stupid, giving up her only protection against him? Didn't she know that putting a bullet through the stupid little girl's head would be so unsatisfying? After all the trouble he had gone to obtain her, he wasn't going to toss aside his new toy so soon.

"Give me your cell phone too and we have a deal." He said. Bering put her gun on the floor and rose back up, hands raised. A second later she put one hand in her pocket and took out her cell phone, putting that on the floor too. In return, Michael shoved Claudia forward, still keeping a hard grip on her right arm. Finally, as Bering slid the gun and cell towards him with her foot, he let go of Claudia, tossing her to Bering to make sure she couldn't do a last second dive for her gun.

He grabbed the only weapon Bering possessed, feeling power flood through him. After all these years, the image that had driven him, that he had thought over time and time again, was coming true. Bering was standing before him, helpless, without a weapon and with no one knowing where she was. And the best part was that he knew exactly what would cause her pain.

"It's okay." His attention was distracted when he heard Bering's voice, trying to sooth Donovan. Honestly, he didn't know what made her so fond of the stupid bitch. The girl was leaning into Bering, murmuring both fast and softly. Bering simply nodded. "I know. Don't worry." Her voice hardened to steel. "I promise that we'll leave this basement together." He noticed that she didn't say in what way.

* * *

"Myka he's going to kill us. He wants revenge on you for locking up his brother." Claudia said in Myka's ear, aware that Michael was staring at them intently. Her pulse raced when she realized that it was just them, alone in the basement, with Michael in full control. As much as Claudia would have liked to believe that Pete and Artie were coming, she knew Myka wouldn't give away their location in fear of what Michael would do to Claudia.

"I know. It's okay." Myka said, and Claudia felt slightly comforted as Myka's hand gave a slight stroke of her hair. It felt like when she was younger, with Joshua playing with her hair while they took turns reading bedtime stories to each other. But she was distracted by Myka's next words. "I promise that we'll leave this basement together."

As much as Claudia knew that Myka wanted her to feel better at those words, they simply made the situation worse. How were they both supposed to get out of the basement in anything less than bodybags? And if Myka did have a chance to escape, would she blow it by staying with Claudia? Claudia hoped that Myka knew her well enough to know that she would want Myka to make a dash for freedom if she could.

Michael's chuckling brought her out of her depressing thoughts. He seemed to have found Myka's last statement amusing.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Agent Bering." He said, putting as much sarcasm into the last two words as possible.

"Did you get all of your lines out of cheesy action movies?" Claudia mumbled. From past experiences, she knew that this would provoke Michael beyond all control, especially with Myka there, but she couldn't help it. This asshole wasn't satisfied with kidnapping and abusing her, he had also lured Myka to her death, all because he had blame issues.

But Michael simply ignored her and walked up the wooden stairs upstairs. They heard him lock the door and walk away. As Michael's footsteps thundered upstairs, Claudia turned to Myka.

"I'm so sorry. He was right there in the shadows." She said miserably. "I was trying to warn you, but when you finally got the gag out of my mouth I didn't have enough time. Maybe if I hadn't blurted out everything that came to mind-"

"You were in shock." Myka said gently, giving her a slight squeeze that would have to do for a hug in the present circumstances. She let go of Claudia and began to walk around the room, looking for any weak points in the walls or floor. She disappeared into the shadowy corners of the basement.

Rather than stand in the center of the basement and wait for Michael to come back, Claudia went over to one of the corners of the basement - the corner that Michael had hid in while waiting for Myka. There was nothing in the dark mess of shadows except cobwebs, a metal pole and a filing cabinet. Well, that was interesting. Claudia walked over the cabinet. It was simple, painted black to fit in and stay hidden, and with three shelves. Claudia tried all three and found them locked.

"Myka!" She called out softly, trying to be careful to make sure that Michael couldn't hear them. The ceiling was too thin for her liking. "Come over here!" In seconds, Myka was by her side, examining the cabinet. "It's locked." Claudia informed her, which didn't deter Myka, who simply yanked a bobby pin out of her hair that Claudia hadn't noticed before.

"Useful for picking handcuffs." Myka said to Claudia's curious glance. "Didn't know what the hell Michael had up his sleeve." She knelt down and began to pick away at the lowest drawer while Claudia anxiously played look out.

"Shit." Claudia looked down at Myka's horrified expression. She peered over Myka's shoulder and gasped.

The bottom drawer was full of manila folders, meticulously organized. There were no labels on them, but dates. Myka had picked up a folder at random and had opened it to find pictures of her, of Claudia, of the two of them together, of them alone. There were other pictures too, a few of Leena, some of Pete, and - this made Claudia's breath stop in her throat - Artie. There were even one or two of Kelly. But what was most alarming were the pictures of Myka and Claudia standing outside the Warehouse. Michael knew where it was. Hopefully, he didn't know its exact purpose yet, but if he had been following Myka and Claudia for a while, then he would have some clue of what was going on.

Myka passed the file to Claudia and grabbed another one. The contents were the same, except this time they weren't in the B&B, or standing outside the Warehouse. They were in the graveyard, standing next to Tracy's grave.

Claudia grabbed the bobby pin where it was lying abandoned on the ground, and used it to break open the other two drawers. The second one was just like the first, full of dates and pictures. The topmost drawer, however, was full of personal information. Each person had a folder of their own that held certain facts: birthdates, driver's licenses, college degrees...

'How long was he following us for?' The thought made Claudia want to sit down. Instead, she crouched next to Myka as she looked through picture upon picture. Finally Claudia thought enough was enough. It was one thing to gather information on your situation, it was another to just keep flipping through the pictures again and again, like Myka was.

"Myka." Claudia said. Myka didn't seem to hear her, she just kept flipping through the pictures. "Myka!" Claudia said a little louder, shaking her shoulder. She pushed the cover of the folder down, which seemed to break the spell the pictures had put on Myka. This time, Myka blinked rapidly and looked up at Claudia.

"How come I didn't see this?" She asked in a dazed tone. "All this time he was following us... Making these plans... And I didn't see him once! What kind of agent am I?"

"A pretty horrible one," said Michael. Once again Myka and Claudia turned to see him standing behind them. This time holding a large metal baseball bat.

Myka felt numb. She sat there, holding the pictures that Michael had taken stalking her, while he currently was staring at her and Claudia with a look that a cat would give a just captured mouse.

Behind her, Myka was aware of every breath, every movement of Claudia's. She shifted slightly so that the girl was hidden behind her. But Michael didn't miss anything.

"I was wondering if you'd find those." He said, gesturing to the pictures in Myka's hands with the baseball bat. He stalked slowly towards them. Behind her, Myka could hear Claudia gulp, and she tensed, ready to spring at the first sign of violence.

"Did you ever hear about what happened to my brother after you locked us up, Myka?" He asked, still walking slowly towards them, tapping the baseball bat against the palm of one of his hands.

"No." Myka answered, afraid to say anything more.

"Interesting. Guess you didn't care." Michael said. And suddenly he swung the bat through the air. Myka stood up, trying to shield Claudia behind her, but played right into Michael's hands as the bat made contact with her head and sent her sailing into the inky blackness.


	8. Chapter 7: Out of Control

**Chapter 7: Out of Control**

**NEIWIS - **_I wish I had thought to make crazy guy (Michael) have more pigs with fangs! Unfortunately, that's not what he had upstairs. I didn't know learning Greek was hard, but good luck to you in trying! (Learning French is hard for me, though.)_

**SunKrux - **_Ah! Spelling error! Well, it's corrected now. Thanks for your help!_

**Ninja Bagel - **_If the lightening storm helps you get more into the story, then I wish you many more stories (as long as they don't knock out the power). ;)_

**orangeninja - **_A French bad guy would totally mime! Now I want that to be in the show!_

**shell36799 - **_Here's your update! Hope you like it!_

**OTHangles - **_I don't want to kill you with my cliffhangers! Then I wouldn't have any reviewers! ;)_

**Akaylah - **_Sorry that you were disappointed but I want the story to not rush to all the good things at once. Good things comes to those who wait. And this chapter is the good thing! Well, depends on what point of view you're looking from..._

**moonlit notebook - **_*blushes* Crafted beautifully? I don't think I've ever had someone refer to my writing as a craft. Thank you!_

**lovely9000 - **_Poor Myka indeed. And poor Claudia in this chapter, too._

**scrawn - **_Yes, it is a terrible place to end. It's because I'm horrible and like torturing you. ;) Here is your update and I hope you enjoy it..._

When Myka came to, the room hadn't changed much. Michael was still calmly watching her, tapping his bat. The only difference was that Claudia was now lying on the floor next to him, bound again. Luckily, the blindfold and gag were still out. Myka tried to move over to her, but found she couldn't move. Looking down, she realized that she was tied to one of the black metal poles that was scattered through the basement. She tested her bonds and found them tight and well tied.

"So, what were we talking about again?" Michael asked, as though he was a teacher giving a pop quiz.

"Your...brother's...death?" Myka said, struggling to remember what had happened seconds before she had been clubbed into unconsciousness.

"Right. Marcus." Michael's voice softened slightly when he said his brother's name. "You know all about him, at least you think you do. After all, you were the one that put him away, weren't you?"

"Michael, he killed somebody." Myka said, trying to make her voice calm. "I had to."

"We were starving and needed the money! All we wanted was something to eat!" Michael yelled. "If your bitch sister -"

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL HER THAT!" Myka screamed, all thoughts of trying to remain calm forgotten as she threw herself against her bonds with as much force as she could.

"I'll call her whatever the hell I want." Michael said, smiling happily at her. But his smile was sick and deranged, and Myka felt more afraid now than she had since the moment she had stepped into the basement.

"You know, we wouldn't have hurt your sister," Michael said. "Sure, we probably would have scared the living crap out of her, but we wouldn't have hurt her. The guns were just for show. After all, no one takes you seriously unless you have a gun.

"But Marcus was scared. He was only eighteen, and he was just trying to help me. He put the gun out to try and make your sister behave, but he got the jitters and the gun went off.

"You should have seen Marcus that night. He was sick with guilt. Couldn't get him to talk for days, could barely get him to eat anything. But you just weren't satisfied. You had to take him away from me.

"It's not my fault." Myka said, her voice full of conviction. The rehashing of the case had brought up memories - seeing her sister fall, over and over again in that video, seeing Marcus' pale face at the trial, trying to blame everyone but himself. She hadn't had any choice - even if it hadn't been her sister, she would have had to bring people like that in to justice. She did so everyday. "You brought this on yourselves."

"Really? Nobody else noticed the tattoo of Marcus'. That tattoo made him get arrested for first-degree murder! They sent him to a big maximum security prison. Made him out to be this cold blooded murderer instead of what he really was - a scared kid.

"And you took him away from me." Michael snarled, stalking forward and thrusting the baseball bat under Myka's chin. Claudia screamed her name but Michael wasn't paying attention to her anymore. "He was only eighteen years old! They sent him away to a place where the psychopaths were locked up! He was scared and he didn't even have his brother there!

"I was only arrested for a few cases of robbery. They put me away for a few years on those cases.

"And that entire time, while I was locked up with sick bastards, the only thing keeping me going was the thought that I'd see my brother again.

"Then, a week after I got out of prison, right after I'd finally gained enough money to go and visit my brother in prison, I got a phone call.

"There'd been a prison riot. Five inmates were murdered. My brother was one of them. Beaten to death. They didn't know who did it and they didn't care. But I do." Michael removed the baseball bat from under Myka's chin and walked away from her, but their eyes were still joined together.

"Your sister got a pain free death. My brother was gracious enough to allow her one. But he didn't get an even trade in return, did he? His death was drawn out. He suffered. So," Michael said, positioning himself right behind Claudia, who was lying on the floor, her breaths coming in quick spurts, her eyes focused on Myka, "I'd thought you should know what it feels like to see someone you love get beaten to death." He raised the baseball bat.

"NO!" Myka screamed, jerking on the bonds. "Please, punish me! If you think it's my fault then punish me!"

Michael lowered the bat slightly, and smiled at her once again. "I am." And then he brought the bat down on Claudia. Myka and Claudia's screams mixed together, both full of pain.

"Claudia, if you want to chime in here, you know, blame someone for the reason you're here, or beg for help, it'd be a nice touch." Michael grinned down at the girl, who bit down on her lip and kept quiet. Throughout the next couple of minutes, nothing emerged from Claudia's mouth. Myka watched in desperation, never stopping pulling at her bonds. The silence was almost worse than the screaming.

"Stop it!" Myka screamed as Michael continued to bring the bat down on Claudia again and again. "I'll do anything! Please!" Michael looked up at her, grinning. He used his bloody hands to push his sweaty blond hair out of his face. The blood mixed in with the golden hair, looking like strange, dripping highlights.

"Do you know how long I've waited to hear you scream and plead like that?" Michael asked.

"Stop. Please." Myka sobbed, staring at the barely moving Claudia. Her eyes were half-open, and they looked dazed, as though they didn't register the world around her anymore.

"All right." Michael smiled. "I'll give you a choice. You give me," he said, raising the bat again and making both Myka and Claudia flinch, "five more whacks with at the bat and I'll leave you two alone for a while. Hell, I'll even untie you. But - I'll come down again to have some more fun later.

"Or..." He said, pulling Myka's gun out, "I could shoot her, straight through the chest - just like my brother shot Tracy." He gazed at Myka, his eyes clear of any trace of guilt - he would really do it, "Your choice."

She was supposed to chose what way to kill Claudia? She wasn't sure that Claudia could hold on for five more hits from the bat - not if Michael hit in the right places. And what would his idea of "fun" be a few hours later? But if she allowed Michael to kill Claudia - Yes, it would put her out of her misery, but with the beatings there was the chance that Myka could help her, could help her stay alive until help somehow found its way to them. As she thought it over, she felt herself getting flushed again and the world was tipping on its side. She felt the contents of her stomach finally begin to come up from the ordeal. She bent over as far as the ropes allowed, gagging.

"Don't want to make a decision, huh?" Michael said, and she heard the gun cocking and the bat beating against concrete. "Guess I'll make it for you."

"N-" Myka said, trying to talk through her dry heaves. Michael laughed at the state of despair and helplessness she was in. Tears slid down her face at the hopelessness of the situation.

BANG.

Michael and Myka's heads whipped up at the sound. Michael stalked forward and grabbed Myka's head, pushing it back, ignoring her gasps for air and her continuing dry heaves.

"I thought I told you not to tell anyone where you were going!" Michael roared.

"I didn't." Myka gasped, the only words she could get out.

"Of course you didn't." Michael said, his upper lip curling. He stalked back over to Claudia and picked up the baseball bat. "I thought you cared about her enough, but I guess I was wrong, if you let others know where you were going -"

"I swear I didn't lead anybody here!" Myka screamed as Michael raised the bat again. She looked to Claudia, but found no movement coming from the girl. She wasn't even sure if her chest was rising or falling. "I swear!"

And suddenly the door to the basement was blown off its' hinges, tiny pieces of wood falling all around them like rain. Smoke poured out of the doorway and down the stairs, and a single figure walked forward, through the smoke and up to the scene that was in the basement.

"What the bloody hell did I miss?" H.G. asked, gazing around the room.


	9. Chapter 8: Burn

**Chapter 8: Burn**

**NEIWIS - **_You should shiver at the mention of French. It's horrible. And life absolutely needs background music._

**SunKrux - **_Of course Michael is going to get it! He was stupid enough to think he could take on Myka!_

**Sheblet -**_ H.G. loves to make an entrance when coming to rescue people, doesn't she? But yeah, she's here (finally) to help kick Michael's butt!_

**Ninja Bagel - **_H.G. has a good reason for getting there first! Trust me, Pete and Artie aren't far behind._

**zombienath - **_Glad to see you here as well as on LJ! Thanks for the review here, I appreciate you leaving one after reading the chapter a second time!_

**StellaHime-Sama -**_ Yeah, H.G. ticked me off in the finale, too. But I believe that she's not a true bad guy, just full of grief and trying to find an outlet for it. But here in this story, the season finale never happened. Yay!_

**moonlight notebook - **_Thank you for the lovely compliments! Wait...You're just trying to get the chapters updated faster, aren't you? ;) _

**OTHangles -**_ I aim to shock and please in this fic! I'm glad I surprised you._

**scrawn **_- No, this fic is not ending soon at all! Trust me, you'll get at least another five chapters out of this story!_

**Akaylah - I**_'m glad you were surprised by the twist! I wasn't sure if it was going to be shocking, but it seems to have done its job._

**orangeninja -**_ I'd like to be in show too! I'd love to work in the Warehouse with Claudia and Artie! (Pete and Myka can go out on the missions - the Warehouse is more fun)._

**Scout2006 - **_The HG ending seems to be going over well with the readers! I'm glad you like it!_

**AM - **_This isn't a slash fic, but I have read some good ones in the past couple days! Trust me, there will be Michael whumping, and Pete and Artie are going to want to do it..._

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"What the hell is this?" Michael asked, looking from Myka to Wells.

"I could say the same thing." Wells said angrily, looking at Myka, who still had silent tears flowing down her face and was robotically tugging at her bounds, to Claudia who was lying silently on the floor in a pool of her own blood.

"Wells!" Myka screeched, trying to find her voice. It sounded so hoarse and scratched. "Get Claudia! Get her out of here!"

"Shut up." Michael snarled at her, and then turned to Wells, aiming Myka's gun at Claudia. "If you don't want her to have a bullet through the chest, then you'll do as I say."

"Why do men always think that because they've got a gun, they're in control?" Wells asked disgustedly.

"Shut up and get down here bitch." Michael said. Myka immediately knew that was the wrong thing to say. Wells' face froze, and she didn't move except to put one hand on Dante's golden locket that was around her neck.

"Did you hear what I said? Shut up and get down here b-" But Micahel's words were lost as a fireball flew towards him, expelling itself from Wells' locket. He ducked and threw himself out of the way, leaving Claudia as the only target.

But instead of hitting her, the fireball expanded to from a fiery ring with Claudia at the center, protecting her from harm. Michael roared with fury, but H.G. tossed another fireball at him, forcing him to duck for cover. Meanwhile, she ran across the room to Myka, who was trying to keep her eyes on Claudia, Michael and H.G. all at once.

"Sorry it took me so long." H.G. said. "But it took me awhile to find you."

"How?" Myka asked.

"I'll explain later, once we're out of this mess." She touched Myka's bonds and Myka felt a brief flash of heat, perhaps from a small flame and then the ropes around her fell to the ground.

"Claudia." She said, running to the girl, who was still laying in the middle of the fiery ring. She tried to find some break in the flames, but they burned steadily.

"Come." H.G. grabbed her arm and tugged her through the flames. She didn't feel any pain or discomfort until they were in the middle of the ring and H.G. let go of her arm. Then she was all too aware of the smoke and fire so close to her skin, making it hard to breathe.

"Can you get her?" H.G. asked above the roar of the flames, "I've got my hands full with the artifact." She was expanding the fiery circle so that the flames weren't so close to them. Myka nodded and knelt down, picking up Claudia, who still didn't stir.

"How is she?" H.G. asked.

"Bad. But I think if we-"

"We'll take care of that in a minute, for now let's just get out of this basement. I'm losing control." H.G. said, taking her arm and leading her out of the fiery ring, which was beginning to lose its perfect shape; Myka could feel it even with H.G. grabbing her arm. The fire was catching onto other things now, Myka saw it engulf the filing cabinet with a roar, gaining strength from the mounds of paper inside. Suddenly she was pushed away, and saw a large chunk of ceiling come down right where she had been standing moments before. Unfortunately, because she was holding Claudia, Myka's body couldn't steady itself before it hit the floor and she landed on her left shoulder, making pain flare through it. As she lay on the floor, she saw pipes beginning to burst from the ceiling, spraying water down on them, but only slightly damping the growing fire. Wires hung from the ceiling, either spraying sparks from their contact with the burst pipes or waiting to nurture the fire.

"The door! Hurry!" H.G. said, coughing. She and Myka stumbled towards the wooden stairs. They made their way up them, the stairs wobbling under their feet the entire time. H.G.'s foot actually went through one, and she had to wrench it out.

H.G. was the first to get to the open doorway; she stepped onto the firmer ground of the kitchen floor. "Give me Claudia!" She yelled, and Myka gladly deposited her into H.G.'s arms. Right as she do so, the entire staircase collapsed from under Myka's feet.

"Myka!" H.G. screamed. Myka grabbed the floor of the kitchen, leaving herself hanging at least 10 feet above the fiery basement. The only thing keeping her from slipping into the basement was her arms and hands thrown across the kitchen floor, the sweat slipping off the wood.

"I'm okay!" Myka said, struggling to pull herself up. H.G. was about to give her a hand when something buzzed. Myka recognized it as Claudia's Farnsworth.

"It's on a loan." H.G. said, noticing Myka's curious gaze. "It's Arthur and Pete calling me! I told them where you are!" She looked down into the Farnsworth and then to Myka, who nodded for her to take the call. She opened the Farnsworth and started talking quickly. Myka began to pull herself up, almost making it as H.G. shut the Farnsworth.

"They're coming!" She said, reaching forward to give Myka a hand. Suddenly, a boot kicked out at her head and she fell to the floor, limp.

"Serves you right, bitch." Michael snarled. "And as for you..." He pushed his boot down on Myka's head, making her fall back and almost let go of her grip on the floor. Not smiling anymore, he put his boot down on Myka's hands, increasing the pressure. Myka screamed as she felt the bones in her right hand snap and eventually give out. Her right arm began to slip across the floor, flopping limply to her side. Michael stepped back and watched in evident satisfaction as she helplessly slipped backwards. Then, without his expression changing a bit, he fell to the floor.

Claudia was standing behind him, clutching a metal pan and struggling to keep herself upright by clinging to the table.

"Claudia!" Myka screamed, partly in shock that she was alive, partly as a cry for help. Claudia nodded and slowly walked towards Myka, the pain and exhaustion evident on her face. She fell to her knees and grabbed at Myka's left hand just as she was about to fall back into the basement. Myka forced her right arm up and dangled it in front of Claudia's face. Claudia grabbed that arm, too, taking care to avoid the hand. Myka wrenched her left arm out of Claudia's grip and stuck it to the floor again, trying to help her. With Claudia pulling and Myka straining to keep her grip, she finally made it over the side.

"Good job, Claud." Myka praised. Claudia fell back, stared at Myka blankly, and passed out again.

Myka crawled over to H.G. and slapped her face roughly. "Wha?" H.G. said, regaining consciousness.

"Help me get Claudia out of here!" Myka screamed, abandoning any explanation as the flames from the basement began to lick the kitchen floor. Another few minutes and she would have burned to death from dangling over the basement.

H.G. got to her feet, surveyed the scene quickly, and picked up Claudia. Myka, cradling her right hand close to her body, quickly followed her out of the burning house. They walked as far as they could from the burning house and collapsed.

They collapsed onto the dirt and dust of the Badlands, watching the house burn. Myka glanced next to her and saw H.G. with her head in her hands, trying to subdue the headache that Michael's boot had brought on, and Claudia, who was lying bloody and covered with soot on the ground.

The sound of a motor brought her out of her observations, and she glanced behind her. Artie's car had just pulled up, and Pete and Artie flew out of it.

"Myka!" She heard the relief in Pete's tone. He ran up to her and carefully embraced her. He didn't look at all surprised to see H.G. there. Neither did Artie, who was crouched over Claudia, looking at all the damage done. He took off his coat and carefully bundled her into it, trying to stroke some of the soot and crusty blood off of her face. Then he looked up to an exhausted Myka and a nauseated Pete, who were both watching Claudia.

"Where is he?" Artie asked, looking furious. When no one answered his question, Artie roared it again. "WHERE IS HE?"

"There." H.G. pointed to the inside of the house.

"Okay." Pete said, the same furious look replacing his sickened features. "Stay here." He holstered the Tesla and walked into the fiery house with Artie.

"No..." Claudia said, shocking Myka. The word was so low and quiet she almost thought it was a moan. "Artie..."

"He'll be fine." H.G. said, gently tucking the edges of Artie's coat around Claudia's body. "And so will Pete."

Claudia let out a strangled sob.

"It's okay." H.G. said, stroking some of the hair back from her face, and then glanced over to Myka, who felt a feeling of increasing numbness over her body. "It's over." H.G. said as Myka sank down into the welcoming darkness. "It's finally over."

But H.G.'s voice called her back one final time. "They should have been out by now." She said, worried, glancing at the house that Artie and Pete had gone into. She gave a glance to the semiconscious Myka and Claudia and then back to the fiery house. "I'm going to go after them. I'll be right back." She slowly began to walk towards the fire.

Myka scooted over so that she was next to Claudia, whose eyes were rapidly closing. She took the girl's hand and closed her eyes, once again ready to give herself up to the comfort of unconsciousness.

"I'd thought they'd never leave." Myka's eyes snapped open to the horrifying sight of Michael kneeling over them, smiling in a deranged way.


	10. Chapter 9: Fate's Plan

**Chapter 9: Fate's Plan**

**NEIWIS - **_Sure you can give crazy guy a prize! "Dear Agony" would be a good song for this fic! That's by Breaking Benjamin, right?_

**AM - **_The crazy guy's looniness is all him. ;)_

**Ninja Bagel - **_I have awed you? Awesome! I hope to awe you again in the future with my writing!_

**Sheblet - **_Nope, the crazy is near inescapable. Glad to see I surprised you with my cliffhanger!_

**Scout06 - **_Glad you love this story so much!_

**shell36799 - **_The next chapter is here! Your long wait is over!_

**scrawn -**_ I would like to read whatever you write! If you were to write some fic for Warehouse 13, what would you write it on?_

**SunKrux - **_Yep, Michael's an idiot. He tries to piss off Myka not once but two times. Even Pete knows enough not to do that._

**Akaylah - **_You'll just have to wait to find out if crazy guy did anything to Pete and Artie. *Evil laughter*_

**orangeninja - **_Hey, even if Myka and Pete don't break back any artifacts, there's even more artifacts in the Warehouse to play with! I'd kill to ride on Steve McQueen's motorbike like Claudia does!_

**moonlit notebook -**_ I give out "lovely torture"? Yea! My writing torture is now so intense that it has crossed the boundaries of pain and now is lovely! Okay, that didn't make much sense, but what I'm trying to say is thank you for the wonderful review. I'm glad you like my work so much!_

**Kay K - **_I like to think of myself as a true Warehouse 13 fan, so thanks for the compliment! My cliffhangers are made to be annoying. Hee. I am in the middle on the H.G. issue - I don't believe she's evil, but a very messed up person from the result of her tragic life. _

**The Indie Flash - **_Your name is awesome and so is your review! P.S. I hope your heart has not given out from missing too many beats. _

**Anon -**_ I will indeed keep it up!_

**Potentialslayer1 - **_Thanks for the review! If the suspense has not killed you yet, then here's the next chapter..._

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"Michael, it's over." Myka said, exhausted. His house and cover were gone, and so was what little was left of his sanity. "Just let it go."

"No." Michael said, shaking his head. "Not until you pay like I did." He raised the baseball bat above his head, his eyes focused solely on Claudia, and something inside Myka snapped.

She lunged for his knees and brought him to the ground. His bat landed a few feet away from his hands and she grabbed it. Michael clutched her ankles, trying to drag her away from it, but she already had a solid grip on it and pointed it in his direction and slammed it down on his face. He moaned in pain and she heard something crack; a second later blood poured from his nose. But Michael ignored it, getting back up on his feet, oblivious to anything but Myka who was wearily standing on her feet, quickly burning through what little adrenalin she had left.

Michael ran to her, trying to crash into her, but Myka had the advantage. Where Michael had learned to throw obvious punches and kicks, Myka was more lithe and subtle, using the material arts training she had acquired during her training during the Secret Service. She moved around him, running him until he was exhausted. He swung the baseball bat one final time, but Myka grabbed it and wrenched it out of his hands. Immediately, she swung the bat around to hit the back of his knees and his legs collapsed out from under him. When he tried to get up, Myka swung the bat and hit his body. Then again. And again. And again. She was so focused on hitting him, on making sure he could never hurt her, or Claudia, or H.G. or anyone ever again that she lost of how many hits she gave him, of how much blood he lost, of how much -

"Myka." The first whisper wasn't enough to break her out of the trance she had gone into. She kept rhythmically hitting Michael with the bat.

"Myka." The second whisper broke through her numb mind slightly. But she still couldn't stop hitting him. She had to make sure he never hurt her or anyone she loved every again... Some part of her mind wondered if this was how Michael had felt when beating Claudia.

"Myka!" Finally, the third whisper broker her out of her trance. She glanced around, blinking and noticed Claudia staring at her on the ground, terrified. Of her.

"Claud? Claudia I'm sorry." She said, reaching a hand out, but Claudia flinched and drew back. "No, no. It's okay." She said as Claudia continued to stare at her with fear in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I just - I'm sorry." She said, feeling tears come into her eyes again. "It's okay." She said, edging towards Claudia, who was still backing away. "It's okay Claud, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She said as Claudia still kept shifting away, a horrified expression on her face. "Claudia - please." She attempted to reach out for her again, but she had worn out what little adrenaline she had left, and she slumped to the ground, unconscious.

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Michael shifted on the ground, every bone in his body broken, every piece of flesh covered with blood. He looked over to see a still Bering and a broken Donovan. Still not good enough. Their roles should be reversed. He tried to reach for the baseball bat, but found he couldn't move an inch. Bering had beaten him too severely, but she had left him alive to tend to the brat. Her mistake, just like trying to find who had killed her sister had been. He tried to move again, but went limp after a few agonizing moments of pain, breathing harshly through his teeth. He would try again in just a few seconds, but he had to get his breath back first. He had to try again. He had to fulfill his fate. Fate had been gracious to him, he would be gracious to it now.

"Michael." A beautiful voice cut through Michael's pain, and there was a flash of light. He made his neck shift a few inches up to see the most wonderful thing he'd ever seen in his life.

His brother, his baby brother, was standing in front of him.

He looked just the same as he had when being taken away from by the police all those years ago... Blond hair with bangs that reached down so far it almost covered his eyes, leaf green eyes shining (with happiness, or maybe tears, Michael guessed) and several inches smaller than him.

"Marcus." Michael whispered through broken teeth and bloody gums. "Marcus."

"You did all this for me." Marcus smiled gently. "Why?"

"Because I love you, dummy." Michael said, choking on his tears.

"I love you too." Marcus said. He reached out a hand. "It's time to come home now. We can be together again."

Michael tried to move his hand but found he couldn't - the pain was too overwhelming. "Marcus, it's too hard."

"That never stopped my big brother before." Marcus said, giving him another smile and make Michael fill up with pride. "Try, please. And then it'll be over."

Michael forced his trembling arm to take his brother's clean, pure white hand. The second he touched it, the pain was gone. He stood up, his brother's hand still clenched in his. He looked over to where Bering was lying, tear marks still on her face, and where Donovan's body was shaking greatly.

"What now?" He asked, staring at Marcus.

"Now..." Marcus said, smiling a smile that looked all wrong for him - tricky, devilish. "We go home." And suddenly the earth opened up and Michael felt himself falling... The pain had been through moments ago came back, increased by ninefold... He fell down below, but just managed to grab the ground of the Badlands with one hand, not willing to go. He couldn't see what was down below, but he could feel its heat creeping up on him, burning and searing him from even a distance... And even then he knew that the pain and heat he was feeling right now weren't even the worst they could be...

This couldn't be happening. Fate had been on his side! It had delivered him the girl and Bering, it had made them helpless... Didn't he deserve revenge for what had happened? Didn't Bering deserve pain?

As he was dangling, Michael saw the old man, Bering's partner and the bitch that had interrupted his plans running towards him. The woman was screaming, "It's the artifact! It's final act is taking someone down to Dante's nine layers of H-"

But she was cut off as the demon Marcus tugged him down and he lost his grip on the ground and was tugged down into a burning inferno...


	11. Chapter 10: Letting Go

**Chapter 10: Letting Go**

**SunKrux - **_Michael should have learned never to try and hurt the people Myka cares about. He underestimated her..._

**Sheblet -** _I'm glad to find someone else out there who shares my beliefs about H.G.! I do hope she comes back in later seasons to redeem herself (I believe that's why the writers didn't kill her - that and the fans loved H.G. so much they probably would have killed the writers)._

**NEIWIS - **_Breaking Benjamin is awesome! I do have more plans for Warehouse 13 stories, mostly centering around Claudia. One of stories I'm writing right now is a crossover of Warehouse 13 with Haven. Another that I might write is Claudia going back to one of her foster parent's home for their funeral - and it turns out the parent was killed by unnatural causes. It's a way for the Warehouse 13 gang to find out more about Claudia's past._

**Kay K - **_I do feel bad for Michael, too (which is odd since I was the one who wrote his death). Even though he was evil, being tortured for eternity is really harsh._

**Ninja Bagel - **_Thanks for pointing out that typo! I'll try and fix that soon. I did get a chuckle out of it, too. Maybe Myka learned a special form of fighting called "material arts" where she fights...with inanimate objects? Okay, I'm just going to stop talking now._

**Potentialslayer1 - **_There is much more Myka and Claudia coming your way. Michael though? Well...I'll just have to leave you guessing on that one._

**moonlit notebook - **_I hope I didn't kill you with the wait this time!_

**OTHangles - **_Here is your update! I hope you enjoy it!_

**AM - **_Yeah, Michael's not going to adjust well to his new home. Unfortunately for him. ;)_

**Kameryn - **_I hope I'm really not killing you, because if I get called into court for your death, then I won't be able to update as fast. ;)_

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The first thing Claudia heard when she woke up was beeping. That stupid alarm clock that Artie had gotten her after she had shown up late at the Warehouse for the tenth time. She reached out to try and hit it, but find something restraining her hand. Panic swept in - immediate and all-consuming. She didn't like being restrained, didn't like being tied down. It made you unable to fight back. And suddenly a vision of a baseball bat, crashing down on her body unforgivingly was in her head, playing over and over again like a movie screen. Screams began to ring through her head while she was hit - not her own screams, she was strangely silent, but the screams of someone else, someone she cared about -

Myka.

The entire events of the past few days streamed into her mind, overflowing it and almost overwhelming her. Michael kidnapping her, Michael beating her, Michael about to shove Myka into the fiery abyss of the basement, Myka fighting Michael, winning, beating him...

Claudia took a deep breath, remembering the bloodthirsty, savage look on Myka's face as she repeatedly hit Michael over and over with the bat. She hadn't paid attention to her burns and bruises, her broken hand, hadn't even, in fact, paid attention to Claudia, even when she had screamed for her.

That, Claudia thought, was the thing that scared her the most. Myka had always come running when Claudia had needed help - when the Gooery was about to drag her into its gears, when she had been tossed in the burning sports drink, when Michael had kidnapped her... If she had been in danger, she had always known that Myka would be there to protect her. But Myka had been so focused on revenge, for herself, for Claudia, for Tracy, that she hadn't even heard Claudia's cries for her. She had been lost to the rage before finally hearing Claudia, minutes after she had started screaming. It had been minutes before Myka had even started to recognize the fact that Claudia was trying to communicate with her.

And then she had turned around, turned to Claudia, face screwed up in rage and hate, dripping with blood - And could anyone really blame Claudia for being horrified, completely terrified of her? She had been slightly scared when seeing Myka beating Michael, with only Myka's back to look at - she could hardly face that reality. But seeing Myka, actually looking into her eyes and seeing the searing hate there, the hate that had burned so brightly in Michael's eyes - it had been too much. Seeing her savior have the same hatred as her beater had caused Claudia's mind to shut down and to let the panic of her recent events take over, to tell her body to get the hell out of there, to not come near this strange person, that she was a threat, that she would hurt Claudia -

"Claudia." A whisper cut through Claudia's thoughts. Not Myka's voice, but a man's, low and soothing.

"C'mon kiddo, open your eyes." She couldn't place the voice, but she knew it was connected to some of her happiest memories, some of her brightest times...

"I know you can do it. You're stronger than this." Damn right she was. Well, she had been. She wasn't feeling very strong now.

"Damn it, Claudia!" The voice was all growly now, and she felt something warm and soft take her hand, making her feel safe. "Wake. Up." Now the voice had an edge of something else - sadness? "I won't lose another partner." There was a moment's pause. "I won't lose _you_."

Claudia mingled about in the darkness, losing track of time. Should she go back? The voice clearly missed her, but the rage and pain and hurt would all be waiting for her. Suddenly, she felt the warmth slide away from her hand, and she made the split second, - sometimes stupid - decisions that she was so famous for.

She woke up.

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When she was sad or depressed, Myka had found the most comfort in books. The fictional characters always had worse problems than she did, and she could lose herself in another world for a while, one where she hadn't screwed up or disappointed somebody.

But no matter how many books she read, no matter that she had gone back to the temple for comfort itself in her mind - her father's bookstore, she couldn't get Claudia's horrified expression out of her mind.

Beating Michael had felt so good. Tracy was dead, Claudia was broken, and all Myka wanted was for the person who had done that to be punished, to feel as much pain as she did.

Unfortunately, it didn't feel like her pain had a beginning or end, and any amount of human pain couldn't match up to what she felt.

And then to break away from Michael and see the reason for why she had met him out in the abandoned Badlands, knowing he was waiting for her, death on his mind, backing away from her as though she were Michael himself. As though she was going to pick up the bat and bring it down on Claudia -

Myka dropped the book she was holding, pushing down her nausea. No. No, she would never do that. She would never hurt Claudia.

But then, she hadn't thought herself capable of putting anyone, not even Michael, through so much pain. Even MacPherson, who had killed Artie once and made Claudia run away from the Warehouse, didn't compare to the amount of hatred Myka felt for Michael.

But he was gone now, as was his brother, thanks to H.G.'s ingenious "borrowing" of Dante's locket. Claudia was tucked away at a hospital, safe and sound, and Myka was back in "Bering and Sons", shelving books.

It was better, after all, to be away from Claudia. She wouldn't want to be around Myka after witnessing Myka's display of temper, she would just panic more. Truthfully, Myka thought that she couldn't handle looking at the fear in Claudia's eyes again - all thanks to her. Once had been enough, thank you very much.

Still, she wished she could see Claudia. She wanted to be there for the girl after seeing the abuse that Michael had put her through, which she didn't feel nearly as much pain and guilt about. Yes, she had been responsible for Claudia getting kidnapped, she knew that. But all the while, Claudia had viewed her as an ally, as someone who would help her get out of the nightmare that she had slipped into. Michael and Marcus and their campaign of rage and hate had been responsible for putting the fear in Claudia's eyes, not Myka herself. But there was no mistaking exactly who Claudia had been afraid out on the dusty ground of the Badlands - not Michael, out of his mind and covered in blood, but Myka herself, standing over him, triumphant in finally letting the animal inside her out.

As an example of that hate, Myka looked down at her right hand, frowning at it as she flexed it, and then wincing as a dull, throbbing pain hit it. In her hate and haste, she hadn't noticed her right hand screaming in pain as she held the baseball bat that she beat Michael with. By the time she had dropped the baseball bat and the others had found her, her hand had been too ruined to ever fully function again - if a normal hospital had fixed her up. Vanessa had given her an artifact that had made her right hand as good as new - unfortunately, the drawback of the artifact was that she could feel her right hand repairing itself - crushed bones and all. Days after, she was still left with a few uncomfortable side effects.

Claudia hadn't used that artifact, and Myka wasn't sure whether she was grateful or not. Claudia's injuries had been too severe, and Vanessa had been quite certain that Claudia would have died from the amount of strain and pain that her body would have put itself through if it had tried to repair itself with the artifact.

So it was off to the normal hospital Claudia went, and, as soon as Leena's was emptied of people - all visiting an unconscious Claudia at the hospital - Myka packed up her things and left.

She had left a note telling them how sorry she was, but it was something that she had to do; but if they wanted to, they were perfectly within their right to hate her.

She hated herself.

She wondered if everybody did hate her. Leena probably read the guilt and shame in her aura and gave her a break, Pete probably tried to make excuses for her, and she wasn't sure what the hell Artie was thinking, considering the fact that out of everyone in the Warehouse, he was closest to Claudia, but she was sure that as time passed the sympathy would drain out of their systems and be replaced with the same anger and hate that Claudia felt towards her.

It was better that way, really.

It was easier this way for her to let go.

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**To my loyal reviewers: Try and guess in the reviews who it was that was talking to Claudia in her coma. **


	12. Chapter 11: Decisions

**Chapter 11: Decisions**

**NEIWIS - **_I think I'll put up the Haven crossover first, so watch for that. I'm sorry your eyes are miserable. Good luck finding a good song for this story!_

**OneDayRobotsWillCrycs - **_You have an awesome pen name. (And one of your answers is right)._

**The Indie Flash - **_GET OUT OF MY BRAIN YOU AWESOME PERSON WITH IDENTICAL THOUGHTS. That is all. P.S. I will bake myself some oatmeal scotches and pretend they are Artie's. ;) _

**Kameryn - **_Pete's a good guess! And I hope you enjoy this next chapter!_

**SunKrux - **_Myka is badass combined with even more badass (I know that doesn't make sense, thank you very much) and anyone who tries to cross her and her loved ones will end up crushed. _

**AM - **_Hee. I love making people confused with my story. I hope you like this chapter!_

**Kay K - **_I keep killing people with my cliffhangers! If I keep it up, I'll have no more reviewers! ;) And I will try to update "Shadows of Haven". I know where I want to take the story, it just got away from me for a while. I can't make any promises though on when I'll update it. I hope to update it soon, but I'm not going to say a specific date because my life is pretty hectic right now and I don't want to pass a date and disappoint anyone. _

**moonlit notebook - **_Hmm... Well, look below and see if your answer is right! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!_

**orangeninja - **_Artie is definitely a candidate for who was talking to Claudia. Look below for the answer._

**Lady Anne Boleyn - **_Great pen name, and yes, I too would run from pigs with fangs. H.G. breaking that door down with Dante's locket was a clear image in my mind and I wanted that in the fic!_

_**Now, as for who was talking to Claudia (drumroll please)...**_

_It was Artie. I gave a few hints in saying that A. He's lost a partner already (Pete doesn't really count yet because I don't think he would have accepted Myka leaving the Warehouse so soon), B. One of his nicknames for Claudia is "kiddo", C. He would totally yell at Claudia for not waking up from a coma, and D. he's Artie. If Claudia's been hurt, you can count on him to be right there at her side._

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Myka flexed her hand over and over again as she sat in her favorite corner of the bookstore - a comfortable nook tucked away where customers could sit down and read. It was a little corner of the bookstore stuffed with couches and armchairs,

tiny bedside lamps and tables sitting by each seat, and with a brilliant view of the night sky outside.

She could hear nothing but the rustle of pages and the occasional settling of the bookstore as she tried to concentrate on her book. Her parents had left just a few hours ago for a pre-planed vacation. They had tried to say that they would stay with her, but she had convinced them that she was an adult and was fine with being on her own for a couple of days. Her mother had nodded, but Myka could read the worry in her eyes, along with her father's. They hadn't tried to push Myka to give them the full story of what had happened to make her come home abruptly. However she knew they were guessing because of the conversation she had had with her mother the night before they had left...

It was a quiet evening in the kitchen, where Myka was sitting at a table, flexing her hand over and over in an effort to try and get rid of the pain of recently putting her hand back together. Her mother was making them cups of hot chocolate - the drink she always made when she wanted to talk about an uncomfortable topic with Myka. Myka didn't say anything for fear of accidentally giving her mother more information than she already knew, but simply waited for her mother to start. A few minutes later, her mother put down their cups on the table and sat across from Myka.

"Now sweetie, you know how happy I am that you've come home to visit your father and I..."

'Here we go.' Myka thought, bracing herself.

"But we were wondering why you did it so suddenly. Not that we don't love having you home, but you didn't give us any time to prepare..."

"Are you keeping dead bodies under the floor, Mom?" Myka chuckled, making her mother laugh, and then turn serious.

"It's just that last time you came, your friend, Pete, came up to join you, and then a bit later that red head girl came, Claudia, that was her name, wasn't it?" Her mother said, making Myka clench her fist.

"And your boss kept calling to check in on you... And I know it's different this time because your father isn't dying, but not once have I even heard you mention your friends..." Her mother trailed off, looking at the stony expression on Myka's face, not betraying a single emotion.

"Never mind." Her mother sighed, forcing a smile, grabbing Myka's empty cup of hot chocolate and going to rinse it in the sink.

"Mom...do you think Tracy loved me when she died?" Myka asked quietly, making her mother turn from the sink and stare at her, shocked.

"Honey, of course she loved you. How could you ever think the opposite?" She asked, coming back to sit by Myka.

"It's just that I was gone all the time, never coming home, I was always so busy - even to take her phone calls.

Do you know what happened the day she died? She kept calling to tell me that she was named Prom Queen, and my cell rang in the library and I was annoyed. I was annoyed that she was calling me. And that she wouldn't stop. I thought that she should get the message that if I wasn't picking up the first time, I wasn't going to be picking up any time soon. I called her a few minutes later only to make her finally stop calling me." Myka said, beginning to feel the emotional dam that she had kept up since telling Claudia about Tracy break. "I didn't even get to talk to my sister because I was so pre-occupied. She died without letting me hear her voice one last time because I was annoyed with her. Because I was too busy." Myka sniffed.

"Oh sweetheart." Myka's mother scooted even closer to her, putting an arm over her shoulder. "Tracy knew you loved her very much, and she loved you. It's true..." She said as Myka sniffed and laid her head on her mother's shoulder. "Why else would she have been calling you all those times to tell you that she had been elected Prom Queen? All she wanted in the world, sweetheart, was to become like you. To have your determination, your feistiness, your kindness..." She said, as Myka felt another burst of sadness and shame come over her as she thought of her sister's large, worshiping eyes, Claudia's face, so full of sympathy when hearing of Tracy and then of Michael lying on the ground, covered in blood and gore.

"But why are you asking this all of a sudden, honey?" Her mother asked curiously.

"I was reading the town newspaper and in the obituaries, it said that Michael Yardly was dead." Myka said, feeling her stomach turn at the ease at which she could lie to her own mother.

"What? He was living in your town? Did he ever approach you?" Her mother's voice hardened, and Myka was quick to reassure her, changing her mind and putting her stomach at ease. In this case, lying to her mother was what was best for her and her state of mind.

"No! Just a few hours away! And I never saw him in the time I lived in Univille." Myka said.

"Just as well. I'm glad he stayed away from you. I was so worried that when he got out of jail he'd come after you. That bastard was never able to accept blame for his faults. Just like his brother." Myka's mother said in a dark tone.

"In the obituary, it said that Marcus was dead, too." Myka said in a quiet tone.

Her mother didn't say anything, but Myka wondered if she was thinking the sentence she had said just seconds ago, but this time for Marcus.

"Is that why you came here?" Her mother asked.

"That...and I...I screwed up." Myka said. "When I heard about Michael's death. I just blew up...and Claudia saw that. I couldn't...can't face her. For a minute, I felt like Michael," she admitted, "with all that anger inside. I wondered..." She trailed off.

"Myka Ophelia Bering, you are nothing like him. You are good and beautiful and kind." Her mother said, smoothing her hair back lovingly. "But if you truly want to prove you aren't like him, then you need to go back to your friend. You need to do what Michael could never do. You need to own up to your mistakes." Her mother stared her straight in the eye. "You need to apologize."

"I'm not sure it'll be that easy. I really hurt her. I mean...I never laid a finger on her, but...I could tell I hurt her."

"I never said it would be easy. But just know, Myka, that one of the reasons your sister loved you was for that trait: that you were willing to take on any challenge, no matter how hard." She said, kissing Myka on the forehead and leaving the kitchen and Myka, who was staring absentmindedly into space, thinking.

But she still wasn't sure, Myka thought, coming back to the present of her parent's empty bookstore, of her decisions, even though she had been thinking about it since the conversation with her mother. And she hadn't been able to rid herself of the uneasiness of the decision she knew she had to make soon - to keep away from Claudia for her own good or to go back and make amends with her. Which would Tracy have wanted? Staying away from Claudia might even be a sign that she cared about Claudia's happiness more than her own - that she was willing to give up the Warehouse to keep Claudia from fearing her. And the others - was she doing them a favor too? Would she blow up again and have them witness someday the same fury that she had attacked Michael with?

'I wish I could know what you wanted, Tracy. I wish I knew what Claudia wanted.' Myka thought. Then she remembered Claudia's words about Tracy watching over her, and then remembered her plea to Tracy to keep her from losing Claudia - only to have it go unanswered. Tracy was gone - but Myka still knew that she had to honor her wishes, even if only to live up to the person she had been in Tracy's mind.

Not even the comfortable, warm atmosphere of her father's bookstore could ease her mind. With the amount of pain she was in, her hand felt like it was on fire. Biting her lip, she tried to concentrate on the book in front of her: "As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words." Thanks Shakespeare.

Giving up on her book for the night, Myka put it down and went to go get a glass of water. She walked into the kitchen when a sudden wave of heat swept over her entire body, making her gasp and grasp the kitchen counter. Her hand suddenly felt like it was about to explode, like the bones were trying to rearrange themselves again... She tried to wait the pain out, but after a minute she came to the horrifying conclusion that it wasn't going away.

She fumbled and pulled out the Farnsworth that she always kept on her - though she hadn't used it and no one had called since she had left Leena's - and flipped it open.

Contacting the one person who she hoped could make the pain go away, she managed to stammer out: "Pain. Bad." But through the blinding pain she wasn't even sure if the person had answered in time.

Her eyes rolled up in her head and she fell to the kitchen floor. She wanted to black out, to fall into the comfortable darkness, but realized that she wasn't blacking out anytime soon - the pain was insufferable, the heat unbearable, but her body wasn't letting her fall unconscious. 'It was like the flu,' Myka thought, as another wave of heat wreaked her body. She was going to be miserable, but she wasn't going to be allowed to have the soothing arms of darkness take her. She lay on the floor, parents and friends miles away from her, communication cut off, as she was unable to move due to the pain spreading through her body.


	13. Chapter 12: Into the Night

**Chapter 12: Into the Night**

**NEIWIS - **_Thank you for the compliment! I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

**The Indie Flash - **_I'll save you from the cliff! (At least until the end of the chapter *evil laugh*). Our writing styles are similar to one another! There's only one reasonable explanation - my theory was right, we do have identical thoughts! Mindfreak! ;) Speaking of cliffs and updating stories: You must update yours so I can get my fix of Artie and Claudia bonding! _

**Searching4sanity -**_ Love the pen name (although I don't think there's much sanity left). Yes, I am very annoying in my cliffhangers, I realize that. ;) And as for your final request, I think you'll really like one of the chapters coming up._

**Ninja Bagel - **_Darn that life for getting in the way of reviewing! ;)__I'm glad you guessed it was Artie, too! Thanks for the compliment about my cliffhangers, although I know you're probably annoyed by them, too. I love leaving people hanging. _

**SunKrux - **_Hello my stalker! ;) Help is indeed on the way for Myka! _

**Kay K - **_I'm glad you're so invested in this story! What happens to Myka and why it happened will be revealed in the next couple of chapters... Your answers will come soon!_

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Waking up was hell.

First, there had been all her friends and family to deal with.

Pete had been determined to heal her through the power of balloons, stuffed animals and chocolate, Joshua wanted to take her back to Sweden with him and might have never let the matter go if Mrs. Frederic hadn't shown up and had a four hour "discussion" with him. Claudia didn't know what had happened, but at the end of it he had been fully on board with her "job at the IRS." Artie had been alternating being at her bedside for sometime hours at a time, and then vanishing. Claudia understood that he had issues with people he cared about being in hospitals, but she wished he would warn her when he was coming - it was hard to talk with someone at three in the morning on hospital drugs.

And she had plenty of questions.

Such as where Myka was, for one. It wasn't like she was expected the agent to be chummy with her, considering she had led to to her almost death; but she would have liked at least one visit from her in the hospital, at least to explain what the hell had happened with Michael. But she had had to get her answers from H.G. Wells, who had shown up for a visit. She was accompanied by Mrs. Fredric, who was taking her to the Regents to see if saving Myka and Claudia would allow her to be reinstated as a full Warehouse agent.

"She vanished, darling." H.G. said, comfortingly stroking her hair back from her forehead, and making Claudia wince when she remembered how Myka had so easily done that very same movement to comfort her, too. "Waited to hear the results of your surgery, and simply picked up and left while everyone was at the hospital waiting for you to wake up from that coma of yours."

A glance to Mrs. Fredric confirmed that H.G. was telling the truth.

It was child's play to find her, Claudia didn't even have to do it. Artie had tracked Myka down, just to make sure she hadn't been taken out of the B&B against her will, but information showed that she was at her parent's bookstore, and that she was there of her own free will. And that had been the end of that.

Pete was trying to make excuses for Myka, yet Claudia could see the anger in his face. Abandoning your family was the worst thing to do in his book, Claudia knew.

But was she part of Myka's family, or did that title simply go to her blood-relatives?

Did she really think she could hold the same title as Tracy did?

The answer was clear. Myka hadn't visited, e-mailed, called or texted anybody from the Warehouse, not even to find out how Claudia was doing. She hadn't even sent a reply to the text that Pete had sent her telling her that Claudia had waken up from her coma.

As much as she tried not to let it, the abandonment hurt. She and Myka had been through Hell together, but Myka had simply left her alone, with no one else around who had experience what she did. Still, she couldn't hold it against Myka - this had been Myka's past, Myka's problem, and Myka had the right to try and deal with it in her own way.

The rest of her family had taken different approaches to Myka's absence: Joshua, who had liked Myka upon first meeting her, now had a stormy look on his face whenever anyone mentioned her and mumbled under his breath things he wished he could say to her - most of these were words that would have put Claudia in the corner when she was under his care; Artie, who understood having a dark past that you would have rather forgotten than relive, seemed to be the most lenient on her, but was the least sure she would come back to the Warehouse; Leena had seen Myka's aura when leaving the B&B and seemed alternately torn between feeling sorry for her and wanting her to come back so she could scream at her for her "selfishness"; Mrs. Frederic simply pursed her lips but said they needed to let Myka "make her own decisions"; H.G. had seemed slightly depressed when telling Claudia that Myka was gone, but seemed the most hopeful that she was coming back - "she absolutely adores you darling, anyone with eyes could see that".

Claudia was sure it was a bad sign that the person in the Warehouse who knew Myka the least was the most hopeful that she would come back.

She wasn't even sure what she would say to Myka if she did come back to the Warehouse. "Hey, I'm sorry that your past reared up and nearly got you killed using me as bait?"

But she could put those thoughts out of her head for a while, at least. Vanessa, who could either be found at Claudia or Artie's side while she was recovering from the coma, was staying in the B&B for a couple of weeks to help her recover. Apparently getting beaten with a baseball bat meant that she needed to work with Vanessa to make sure she was "fit to go back to work".

Physical therapy was a bitch.

The baseball bat had dislocated her right shoulder, left two major cracks in her skull (no brain damage, though), four broken ribs and a minor fracture in her left hip. The fact that Vanessa thought that this was "minimal damage" meant that something was seriously off with Artie's new girlfriend, thought Claudia angrily as she went through the set of exercises under Vanessa's watchful eye.

Artie and Pete were off on the missions that had piled up while watching over Claudia during her coma, Leena was grocery shopping, and Joshua had gone back to Sweden just a few hours ago for a huge project. He had been indecisive, but she had insisted he go, it was a great opportunity and besides, he was slightly getting on her nerves, (she secretly thought Artie felt the same and had pulled some strings - the "huge project" had appeared quite out of the blue). With Joshua around she was unable to talk about the Warehouse while he was around and she was sick of hearing him always hissing about Myka.

So it was just her, Vanessa and her aching body.

Whoopee.

"That was wonderful, Claudia." Vanessa said as Claudia finished and fell into a chair, panting heavily and gulping down water. "We'll only do two more sets and be finished for tonight."

Claudia groaned and slouched, making her hiss as her body complained even more. Luckily, she had a reprieve as Vanessa's Farnsworth buzzed.

"Excuse me, Claudia. I have to take this." She said, walking out of the room.

Claudia simply grinned.

"Start your exercises." Vanessa called from the other room.

"Awww." Claudia groaned. "She's worse than Artie," she mumbled.

"I heard that." Vanessa said, making Claudia moan.

She was doing her exercises, trying to tell her body that if it shut up and got with the program, the pain would be over soon when Vanessa rushed back into the room. Her face sheet white and she looked troubled - to put it mildly.

"Woah, what's wrong?" Claudia asked. Was Artie hurt? Was Pete?

"I have to go." Vanessa said, grabbing her doctor's bag and tossing the Farnsworth into it.

"What's going on?" Claudia asked, blocking Vanessa's way as she attempted to get to the door. "If you don't tell me I'll call Artie." She threatened.

"It's Myka." Vanessa sighed, a tired look suddenly consuming her face. "She was only able to get a brief message to me, but I know she's hurt."

"Then I'm going with you." Claudia said, grabbing her coat.

"No." Vanessa said. "You're still too hurt and Artie would never forgive me if -"

"I need to see her." Claudia said. "I might be the reason she's hurt. How do we know another one of Marcus's friends didn't come back and -" She cut herself off, desperately hoping that she wasn't going to walk into another nightmare like the one she had been in a few weeks past.

Vanessa studied her and then abruptly rolled her eyes, exasperated. "Fine. But if Artie doesn't like this, then you're taking full responsibility."

"Done." Claudia said, opening the B&B door and leading them out into the night.


	14. Chapter 13: Found

**Chapter 13: Found**

**NEIWIS - **_Something tells me you're speaking from personal experience about physical therapy. Am I right? And you're right, the last chapter was helping me lead into a bigger moment. But I felt like Claudia needed a moment for the readers to get into her mind and understand what she was feeling._

**scrawn - **_No, you're not a bad person. After all, characters getting into trouble is basically what fanfiction is all about! _

**Ninja Bagel - **_Glad to see I made your day a little bit brighter! Hope this chapter helps brighten your day, too!_

**claudia-sags - **_Did you survive? Well, if you did, then I hope you enjoy this chapter! _

**SunKrux - **_Hi stalker! Hope you like this chapter (even though you know what's going to happen, LOL). _

**The Indie Flash - **_Artie is...not pleased. That's all I'm going to say at the time. And as for your most recent update - I had that idea for a fic just a few weeks ago. (Although I probably won't use it because you've already done it and fifty thousand other ideas are all screaming for attention). But seriously, I think we are mind connected...by the power of fanfic (and our mutual love for Artie and Claudia)._

**Kay K - **_Yes, that is what I left you with. Hee. I love being evil. I'm glad you liked going into Claudia's head. Yes, it's very busy in there._

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"Would you like me to help?" Claudia asked, standing outside Bering and Sons bookstore and trying to contain her impatience at Vanessa's lockpicking. She had just started, but Claudia was anxious to get inside and look for Myka.

From the outside it didn't look like tragedy had struck the store - there was no sign of a break-in: no broken glass, no busted down doors, nothing to show that the store and house above it held a woman in pain.

"No thank you. After years of experience," Vanessa said as the lock finally clicked and the door swung open, "you start to enjoy it."

Claudia would have questioned her on why she had needed to learn to lockpick when she was a doctor if she hadn't been busy running inside and looking all over for Myka.

"Claudia! Be careful! We still haven't ruled out the possibility of an attacker!" Vanessa said, pulling a gun out of her doctor's bag.

"How the hell did you get that past airport security?" Claudia asked, not remembering her ever mentioning bringing a gun on-board at the airport.

"Concealment artifact. If a Regent or Agent's life is in danger, I'm not going to waste time explaining why I'm carrying scalpels and a gun on-board a plane." Vanessa said, flicking the safety off the gun. "Now come on."

Carefully, they searched through the bookstore and its back rooms. None of them held Myka. With each door they pulled open or every corner they turned, Claudia kept preparing herself for the sight of a bloody Myka, whimpering in pain. A sudden flashback of Claudia herself lying on the floor of Michael's basement, covered with blood flashed unpleasantly through her mind. But she forced herself to concentrate on Vanessa, who was creeping towards a plain white door. However, when Vanessa swung open the door to reveal the final room in the back of the bookstore - a small kitchen, she didn't see the vision she had been dreading. Instead there lay Myka on the floor, flushed and twitching, but not showing any blood or gore.

"Myka." Claudia said. She tried to run to her, but Vanessa pulled her back.

"We don't know what she has. Some of the diseases are communicable by touch. Let me, I can protect myself." She reached into her bag and pulled out purple gloves, which, Claudia assumed, were the same substance that the Neutralizer was made of, preventing her from the consequences of any artifact's disease. She gingerly touched Myka's forehead and hissed.

"She's burning up. Claudia, go get a glass of cold water." Claudia did so and knelt down on the other side of Myka, being careful not to touch her at all. As she knelt down, Myka's eyes flew open, causing Vanessa to draw back and Claudia to drop the glass. It fell to the floor, it's contents flowing from it across the kitchen title. Myka's eyes followed the liquid that poured from the fallen glass.

"Water?" She croaked, looking at Claudia. The look in her face didn't change, she looked at Claudia like she still cared about her, like she still needed her - it was as if the past couple of weeks were nothing more than a bad dream.

"Here." Claudia said, picking up the glass and what little remained of the water. She looked to Vanessa, who nodded. Gingerly, she held up Myka's head and poured the water into her mouth. Myka drank it slowly, then put her head back down and sighed.

"Thank you." She shut her eyes and became still.

"I know what caused this." Vanessa said, staring at Myka's body.

"What?" Claudia asked, feeling Myka's forehead for herself and withdrawing her hand quickly - Myka's head was so warm she felt uncomfortable touching it.

"The artifact. The one that cured her hand. A side effect of it is that its powers will stay with its user for a couple of days, curing anything that comes into the user's system. It's not that bad when you get a scratch or a bruise - but when you get a virus as Myka must have..."

"Will she be okay?" Claudia asked, looking down at her.

"Probably." Vanessa said, hesitating.

"Probably?" Claudia asked, beginning to feel the familiar rush of panic kick in.

"I'm not sure how long the symptoms have been bothering Myka...it must have gotten to an extreme to have her call me. Sometimes the pain of feeling one's body trying to cure the virus can make one's body die instead of whatever the artifact is fighting against."

"Can't we give her any medication?" Claudia asked desperately as Myka suddenly squirmed on the floor, her teeth clenched and eyes screwed shut. Claudia knew she must be in a great deal of pain to reveal it in the presence of others' around.

"No. The creator of the artifact was sadistic. He made it in order to test whether humans would rather see their injuries cure in immense pain or remain sick - blind or crippled forever. Some of the injuries he caused his patients himself. Obviously, he took pre-cautions against painkillers to keep his subjects from cheating."

"Psychopath." Claudia muttered.

"Obviously." Vanessa said. Then she straightened up and started rummaging through her bag. "I might not be able to help her fight the disease or give her medication, but I think I can ease her pain."

"How can I help?" Claudia asked.

"Did you see those sofas' out there?" Vanessa said, gesturing with her head to the bookstore. "Go push those two together and find whatever blankets and pillows you can. That'll have to do for a bed. We can't carry her far as you're hurt and I simply have gotten past the age where I can carry a grown woman by myself."

"You could do that?" Claudia asked, amazed. She got up and started to exit the room, leaving Vanessa chuckling.

"My dear, it'd surprise you what I used to be able to do."

* * *

A few minutes later Myka was lying in a nest of cushions and pillows - her makeshift bed for now. Claudia was hanging several blankets along the side in case Myka got the chills later. Vanessa was wetting a washcloth from a pitcher of water that Claudia had brought out (along with several glasses). She pressed the washcloth to Myka's forehead, Myka's eyes closed and she gave a low moan of pleasure.

"I'm sure that feels good to you, doesn't it?" Vanessa said, smiling kindly at Myka. Claudia felt affection swarm through her at the older woman who had so easily packed up and left the B&B to help Myka. Claudia had never had a grandmother, but she thought that Vanessa would have been what she would have wanted hers to be like.

"Keep that washcloth on her forehead, Claudia." Vanessa said, rummaging into her bag and flipping open the Farnsworth. "I've got to call Artie and make sure he doesn't have a brain aneurysm when he discovers we've left the state."

"Will do." Claudia said, perching herself on the top of one of the couches and keeping a hand on the washcloth. Gently, she touched Myka's head with her fingers. Already she felt cooler.

"Thanks." Myka said in a whisper, shocking Claudia. Then she turned her head and opened her eyes. After a minute she became confused. "Aren't you supposed to be in a hospital bed?"

"Got released a few days ago." Claudia said matter-of-factly.

"Oh." Myka said, opening her mouth and looking like she wanted to say more, but was too tired to. But she didn't close her eyes again. She simply lay there, watching Claudia.

"No, Arthur, we're perfectly fine! Well, except for Myka." The quiet of the moment was destroyed as Vanessa came back into the room, her Farnsworth held in front of her. "Here, say hi Claudia." She said, shoving the device under Claudia's nose.

"Hi Claudia?" She said, looking into Artie's outraged face.

"YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE BACK AT LEENA'S!"

"Yeah but..."

"You have just been released form the hospital! Do I need to name all the injuries you have?" Artie thundered.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't." Claudia said.

"You -"

"Artie, I'm here now and I'm not leaving. You might as well just accept it."

"Listen to the girl Arthur, she's right," Vanessa chimed in.

"Fine." Artie grumbled, a vein pulsing in his head. "Just...make sure everyone gets better and is in one piece, okay?" He said, lowering his voice unexpectedly.

"Will do." Claudia said, handing the Farnsworth back to Vanessa, who walked out of the room again.

"He's not happy with me." Myka said, startling Claudia. In the midst of her brief fight with Artie, she had almost forgotten that Myka was there.

"No, he's just grumpy about the situation. You know Artie." Claudia said, shrugging her shoulders and trying to sound nonchalant.

"I mean, he's not happy that I left the Warehouse." Myka said, yawning. Her eyes were beginning to close - exhaustion seemed to have kicked in with the lessening of the pain. "I know they hate me but I had to -" Her voice trailed off and her head flopped down on the pillows.

"Myka? Myka!" Claudia hissed, silently cursing the circumstances. For the first time in weeks she was having a conversation with Myka - and she had fallen asleep.

She had fallen asleep, right?

Slowly, Claudia reached out and felt Myka's neck. Yes, there was a pulse. Maybe going a bit too fast than normal, but it was steady and present.

Claudia carefully removed the rag from Myka's forehead and soaked it in more water, then reapplied it. Curling up at Myka's feet and pulling a blanket and pillow to her, Claudia looked one more time at Myka and smiled softly.

"We'll talk tomorrow." She said, and closed her eyes.


	15. Chapter 14: Fault

**Chapter 14: Fault**

**SunKrux - **_Yes, yes I am a smartypants. And I'm glad you still like the chapter!_

**KJay99 - **_I'm glad you think I wrote a good Vanessa. I was hoping she would be in-character._

**Ninja Bagel - **_I'm glad I made your e-mail a little bit more positive! Hope this chapter did the same!_

**Searching4sanity - **_Not an Artie vs. Myka fight, but someone is going to fight with Myka later on..._

**Kay K - **_Vanessa is a fun character to explore! I hope we see more of her in Season 3._

**The Indie Flash - "**_OH SNAP" is right. Seriously, I think we need to get our brains checked out - we're running on the same vibe. ;) I updated soon, and I hope you do too, I can't wait to see what is next in "Aftermath."_

_

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_

Burning... Everything was burning...

"Myka!" Myka turned her head, hearing her name being said. It was both a shout and a whimper. "Myka help me, please!" Claudia. Myka started running towards the sound through the fiery room...

'Where are you, Claudia?' She thought. She opened her mouth to call out for the girl, but smoke immediately infiltrated her lungs and sent her coughing. Covering her mouth with her hand, still coughing, she ran forward through the flames.

"Myka!"

'I'm coming, Claudia, I'm coming.' She thought, rushing towards the sound of Claudia's cries for her. Finally, she saw two people through the flames.

The first was Claudia, curled up on the ground, arms thrown over the head in an effort to protect herself. Through the young woman's arms, Myka could see tear tracks and blood running down Claudia's face - contorted in pain.

The second person was standing, beating Claudia viciously. They had something in their hands, something that they were bringing down on Claudia again and again.

Michael...

This time she wouldn't be too slow, Myka thought. This time she would stop Michael, she would save Claudia...

"No, please stop! Please help me Myka!" Claudia said, looking up to the figure above her, begging her to stop the pain.

"Claudia!" Myka called out, but the roar of the flames was too much for Claudia to hear. But the first person did.

They looked up through the flames and directly into Myka's eyes.

Myka stopped running and stared in shock.

Her own exactly formed duplicate was standing up above Claudia, a baseball bat in her hand, blood all over her hands and a sinister look in her eyes.

"No..." Myka said, trying to move forward, but suddenly she was bound to the pole in Michael's basement again. Her wrists were tied behind her, her torso and chest bound to the pole, her ankles pinned with ropes to the piece of black metal that was preventing her from getting to Claudia.

"Myka..." Claudia said, not seeing the bound Myka in front of her, but looking up at her attacker. "Please, help me..." She reached up for her with a trembling hand, but the duplicate Myka just slammed her hand down on it.

The real Myka and Claudia's screams mixed together as Claudia's hand broke. Claudia curled herself even tighter, still sobbing.

"Please Myka, I'm sorry." Claudia sobbed. "Please..."

"Claudia!" Myka screamed, thrashing and attempting to get to her as the duplicate Myka slammed the bat down on Claudia again and again. "CLAUDIA!"

"Myka! Myka wake up!" Myka awoke to find Claudia standing over her, lightly slapping her cheeks, a frantic look in her eyes.

"Claudia - you -" Myka said, more confused than ever before.

"You were dreaming, Myka." Claudia said, settling her back down into the pillows. "Whatever happened, it was just a dream."

"But -" Myka said, her eyes beginning to water. "It, it could have - I could have -"

"It's okay." Claudia said. "It's alright."

"I'm sorry." Myka said plaintively. "I'm sorry." Tears began to spill over her cheeks and she buried her head in her arms. "Sorry. All my fault."

"No, it isn't Myka." Claudia said, immediately guessing at what she was apologizing for.

"Yes it is. Michael, you, everybody hurt... All my fault." Myka said, trying to explain, but wasn't able to due to her gasping, heavy sobs.

"It's okay." Claudia said, ignoring the fact that Myka was sick and wrapping her in a hug. Unlike Claudia's hugs, this one lasted longer than a few seconds.

As dawn broke upon the bookstore, Claudia gently held Myka as her body was racked with sobs.

* * *

The next few days passed more peacefully for Myka and Claudia than they had known in the past weeks.

Myka slowly began to get better, both in body and mind. After her nightmare, she hadn't talked to Claudia anymore about what had happened between her and Michael, but felt better for at least getting some of it out in the open. Her illness faded and the healthy glow that she had lost since Claudia had been taken was beginning to come back to a soft, gentle glimmer. Having Claudia near her, not shrinking away or terrified of her was helping her immensely.

For her part, Claudia was also recovering even faster now that she was near Myka. She rushed through her physical therapy without complaint now, the faster to be back near Myka. While they didn't talk about Michael, or even much at all, a comfortable silence seemed to hang between the two women as they sat on the bed of sofa cushions together, reading. Claudia was almost midway through her stack of Stephen King books - every book that he had ever written.

Vanessa hung back from the two, understanding that she couldn't heal the problems between the two - it was something they had to do on their own. Instead she would do work or read in the guest bedroom that Myka's parents had. She would have given it to Claudia in her still recovering state, but neither Myka nor Claudia had suggested that Claudia should have it, and Vanessa had understood not to rock the fragile boat that they were on.

Four calm days passed this way.

On the night of the fourth day, nothing was out of the ordinary. Vanessa was upstairs in her room, typing on her laptop a report to the Regents about both Myka and Claudia's health, Myka was just finishing The Odyssey - again (she had read it at least twelve times since her fifteenth birthday) and Claudia was midway through The Shining and trying not to show how terrified she was.

"It's just a novel, Claud." Myka said warmly, trying to control her amusement at Claudia's nose just inches from the paper.

"The warehouse has an entire section devoted to Stephen King, Myka." Claudia said, her voice unusually high-pitched. "I should know, considering the unfortunate incident with Artie and that copy of Misery."

"Pete and I stopped you from breaking his legs." Myka said absentmindedly, reading the final page of her book.

"What do you want to bet that there's an entire shelf about The Shining?" Claudia said, waving the novel.

"Why don't you take a break?" Myka suggested, shutting her book.

"Okay." Claudia said, tossing the book away from her like it was going to bite her. "I'll put my valuable warehouse training skills to the test and take what I learned from Artie to put my fears at ease." She got up from the couches.

"Where are you going?" Myka asked.

"To the kitchen! I need to bake cookies!"

Myka chuckled at Claudia's tone, but shot straight up as she heard Claudia scream.

"Claudia!" She said, throwing back the blankets from her bed. She tried her best to run to her, but could only manage a feeble hobbling jog. Pledging never to let Vanessa use another healing artifact on her ever again, ('Heals you faster my ass' Myka thought angrily) Myka finally made it to where Claudia was - the front door, halfway on her way to the kitchen.

Claudia was standing by the doors, clutching her chest, taking deep breaths. She was perfectly fine, albeit a bit surprised because staring at her through the glass doors of the bookstore were Pete and Artie.


	16. Chapter 15: Reunion

**Chapter 15: Reunion**

**Ninja Bagel - **_Thanks! And yeah, after reading the fantastic Stephen King, people even as sweet as Pete and Artie would seem creepy. _

**KJay99 - **_You're right, things aren't finished yet! _

**SunKrux - **_Like you don't know why Claudia screamed! ;) But no, no scary face for Pete in this fic. _

**Kay K - **_It's true, I'm evil and loving it! Don't worry, your suspense will be rewarded by the end of this chapter! _

**Searching4sanity - **_Sorry, but I can't answer your questions as they're about to be answered in the chapter below! I'm glad my story kept you so on-edge that it made you hyperventilate (well, not glad about hyperventilating, but glad my writing is suspenseful). _

**The Indie Flash - **_Mind twins! And yes, Stephen King is awesome. I hope that maybe someday I can write horror as well as he can._

**BiancaBlairJackson - **_Thanks for reviewing! I hope you like the rest of the story!_

**AUTHOR'S NOTE THAT YOU SHOULD READ: If you like this story, then check out my new story, Guardian. It's on the Haven/Warehouse 13 crossover section. If you don't watch Haven, not to worry I'll PM you with a (short) synopsis before its next chapter.**

**And now, on to the story!**

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"Sorry Myka. Pete here surprised me." Claudia said half angrily, half teasingly while hitting the door.

"Not my fault if you're not observant!" Pete called, his voice muffled by the glass.

"Children, I'd like to come in!" Artie called, the frustration evident in his voice. Myka grabbed the store's keys from her pocket and threw them to Claudia, who unlocked the door.

"What are you guys doing here?" Claudia asked, hugging Artie and then Pete while Myka hung back, wary.

"We came to give you some stuff." Pete said, holding up a duffel bag. "We noticed you left your suitcase at home when coming here."

"Well when a plane to Oregon leaves in just over an hour and the airport is 20 minutes away, you don't exactly have a lot of time to pack!" Claudia said indigently, taking the bag from Pete and slapping him on the shoulder. Artie, in the meantime, had noticed Myka watching them. He crossed the floor to her and smiled briefly.

"Myka, I'm glad you see you." He said, and then paused. "Are you all right?" He asked seriously.

"I'm not sure." Myka said, slightly dazed and feeling more tired than she had in days. "I think the shock kind of took a lot out of me. I'm going to sit down." She said, trying to make her way back to the couches, stumbling. Claudia walked over to her and gently caught hold of her elbow, helping her back. Artie and Pete followed along behind them, shooting glances at one another.

After settling Myka back into her couch-bed, Claudia zipped open the duffel bag and moaned with happiness. "Fresh clothes! Finally! I was getting sick and tired of running my clothes through the washing machine everyday!"

"What were you wearing when the clothes were in the - I'll stop." Pete said, blushing and looking away from Artie, who was burning holes in his head.

"A robe, Pete. Sheesh." Claudia said, rolling her eyes. Then she looked back down at Myka on the couches. "I'm going to go get changed. I'll...be back soon." She said, backing out of the room and wondering if she was worrying too much about Myka.

An awkward silence hung in the room for a few seconds after Claudia left, but Artie broke it by going over to Myka. "So...are you all right?" He asked again, worriedly.

"Getting better." Myka said, smiling softly. "Claudia's a good nurse." She joked, not noticing the way Pete's lips pressed tightly together at the comment.

Artie chuckled, "She's had practice - she lives at the Warehouse." Myka nodded and was about to speak when they heard footsteps on the stairs. They were heavier than Claudia's, and the voice that called out to them was definitely not Claudia's.

"Artie!" Vanessa said happily, walking over to him and briefly hugging him. "You're here! I thought you might be coming sometime in the week." She smiled at him, shaking her head. "I thought I told you that these girls needed rest."

"We only came to drop off some clothes for Claudia." Artie said as he and Vanessa began walking back up the stairs.

"The only reason." Vanessa said. "You're a meddler Arthur Neilson, I had you pegged from day one..." Their voices faded as they went further up the stairs and Pete and Myka could no longer hear them.

"So...how have you been?" Myka asked Pete.

"Oh, you know, not bad." Pete said, rocking back and forth on his heels, nodding his head. "I mean, I just had to deal with Claudia getting kidnapped, and then you running off after her without even telling Artie or I where you were going."

"Pete I had to -"

"No, no, I get that. Michael was going to kill Claudia if you told, I understand. If it had been me - I would have done the exact same thing."

"Good, because I just couldn't risk -"

"But then after you run off, H.G. Wells calls on Claudia's Farnsworth that she found when she broke into the B&B after Claudia was abducted. Yeah, she managed to follow Michael's car to where you guys were taken and called us. So, you know, we only had to wait a few hours before realizing that you guys were still alive. No big deal."

"Pete -"

"No, I get it. Michael was going to kill Claudia. Again, I would have done the exact same thing if I was in your position. But then..." Pete said, his voice getting louder and louder. "After Claudia has been tortured and ends up in a coma - You run off! So instead of sitting by Claudia's hospital bed, Artie and I spend hours looking for you and making sure you left of your own free will, because the Myka we knew wouldn't have left Claudia lying in a coma, not even sure if she was going to survive. The Myka we knew would have bothered to call, or e-mail, or even text to see what Claudia's condition was. The Myka we knew would have come back to see Claudia, or maybe even bothered responding to the text I sent her telling her Claudia was awake from her coma!"

"Pete -" Myka said, her voice getting quieter and quieter.

"Listen, I know that it was hard on you to see Michael hurt her that way! I get that I'll never understand it, because I wasn't there. I get that you couldn't be by her in the hospital, that you needed to decompress. But what I don't get - what I'll never understand - is how you ran away from her.

"I mean - going away, I understand. I know you needed to escape, I know you couldn't stay at Leena's or the Warehouse - that it would hurt too much. And I know that being in the hospital would have been torture.

"But you couldn't have called? You couldn't have made one text just to find out if she was still alive?"

"I knew she was alive because you would have told me if something had happened!" Myka cried, tears dripping down her face.

"But you cut yourself off Myka!" Pete yelled. "I was the one who had to tell her, right out of a two week long coma that you had gone away, and that we hadn't had any communication from you! Did you ever think that maybe Claudia would have liked to hear from you? To say for yourself that you were alright? That maybe it would have been just a little bit frustrating to hear from everybody but you that you were really sorry you had to leave, but it was necessary! The only thing she got was a damn letter! And you wrote that it all of us!" He stopped and took a deep breath, trying to control himself. "Have you ever considered what would have happened if Claudia hadn't made it?"

"Don't." Myka said, shaking her head.

"You wouldn't have even have been here to say goodbye." Pete said quietly. "She could have died and you were states away trying to forget your own pain."

"I was trying to protect her!" Myka screamed.

"From what?" Pete yelled.

"From me! When I beat Michael she - she looked at me like I was a monster! Who wants to wake up at their bedside and find someone just like Michael sitting there?" She cried. Pete visibly softened and walked over to her, tentatively sitting down on the couch.

"Do you really think my presence would have helped her in the hospital, Pete? It would have killed her! Every day she looks at me, she sees a reminder of what happened to her!" Myka sobbed as Pete gently went over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You're not a monster, Myka." Pete said softly. "I might be upset, but even I can see that."

"I am a monster!" Myka sobbed, completely forgetting where she was, who she was crying in front of. Weeks of emotions came tumbling out of her, blinding her to anything else but her own pain. "And Claudia sees that!"

"No I don't." Claudia said quietly, and both Pete and Myka turned to see her standing in the staircase, watching them. Artie and Vanessa were behind her, watching them gravely. "I don't see Michael in you."

"You should!" Myka yelled, at the breaking point. "That's why I left! Because Michael's there! I'm the reason you were taken, and beaten and nearly killed..." She broke off into loud, harsh sobs.

"What I look at you..." Claudia said, coming down the stairs and walking over to Myka. "I see someone who loved her sister enough to find justice - no matter the cost."

Myka simply shook her head, still crying.

"You didn't know." Claudia said softly. "You didn't know."

And she, Pete and Myka sat there on the couches as Artie and Vanessa watched from the doorway, Myka's sobs the only sound echoing in the room.


End file.
